Still in the Club?
by Pyro Vampiress
Summary: Sure the members of the Breakfast Club had shared a bond that Saturday. But will that bond exist when they go back to school on Monday? What will life for the five students be like now that they've shared that unique bond?
1. JB and BJ

John Bender heard the radio of his alarm clock go off, interrupting what was turning out to be another uneasy dream. Though glad to have been whisked out of it, he still groaned at the lack of sleep he had received last night, not that it was anything new.

He opened his eyes halfway and let his long bent fingers crawl around his nightstand like spiders as they searched for the button to turn off the cheap radio. They eventually found it and John's room went quiet. He turned onto his back and rubbed at his eyes, going through the motions of his morning ritual of attempting to make himself more alert before climbing out of the comfort of his bed.

A loud thump resounded across his room as something hit the other side of the wall opposite his bed. John jumped slightly, his hands jerking away from his eyes, which had opened fully now. He felt no fear, but rather wryly thought that he was glad his father had decided to have a temper tantrum so early in the morning, now making him more adequately awake. John listened to his father's yelling from the hallway, guessing he had thrown something in his trivial anger, hence the thud against John's wall.

John sat up, shirtless, and stood up, his bare feet pressing against the cold wooden floor. He stood there in his torn up jeans and just listened for a moment. His father and his mother were yelling, both of them sounding very relentlessly angry as usual, fighting like starved jackals over the smallest piece of meat. Well, John thought, there was a reason he set his alarm as early as he did.

He walked over to his small dresser, and pulled out a change of clothes. He put them on, then got down on his hands and knees, reaching under his bed. His hand went through the hole in the canvas and searched through the box spring of his mattress until he triumphantly pulled his knife, wallet containing his thin wad of cash, and bag of pot out. He put them all accordingly in his jacket before finding his boots and slipping his feet inside them. He crossed the room with practiced weightlessness so as to not be noisy about it, and stood by his door, leaning his ear near it.

Judging by the way his parents' yelling was receding; he assumed that they were taking their fight into their bedroom, where they would then most likely get more violent. His father would slap his mother hard across the face, followed by his mother's wrathful retaliation of swinging a frying pan, which still contained eggs she had probably been cooking when they had first started arguing, at the back of his head. His father would bend over in pain, clutching his head, and his mother would push him onto the bed in disgust before marching out of the room. His father may hit his mother, John thought, but could it really be called abuse if his mother did just as much damage in return? Either way, she definitely was not one of those women that cowered wide-eyed in horror as her husband raised his fist at her. John would not call her 

strong, but still tough. He did not like her, and had a lot of anger towards both her and his father, but he appreciated the fact that the abuse was not one-sided.

John listened and waited for the slamming of their bedroom door before quietly opening his own. He headed down the stairs and fled the house before anyone could find something to pick a bone with him about. He walked to school, carrying no books, no notes, nothing to write with. It was cold outside but he shoved his hands in his pockets and paid no attention to the weather. When he got to school, he was unsurprised to see that there were barely any cars in the parking lot. John opened the doors and walked through the halls, welcoming the warmth as he led himself inside the boys' locker room. Making sure no one was around, he took off his clothes and set them on a bench right outside the showers, being especially careful to make sure his jacket was covered by the rest of his garments on the off chance someone did take it and steal his few possessions of worth to him.

He started one of the showers, closing his eyes as he felt the hot water pour onto his hair and over the tense muscles down his back. He just stood under the water for a moment, not opening his eyes, just enjoying the relaxation it brought him. After a few minutes of this, John scrubbed his hair and body, wishing inside that he could clean himself of all the mistakes he had ever made, of all the hurtful things he had done, both to others, and himself. Feeling the soapy bubbles cascade down the limbs of his body, he did not think there would ever be anything good enough he could do to rid himself of all of his negative emotions or his screw-ups.

John turned off the water once done rinsing his body off and began to dry it with one of the school's towels. He changed back into the clothes he had worn over and found himself proceeding over to the mirror above one of the sinks. His hands began brushing through his damp hair, trying to make it look decent. It was Monday, and he wondered nervously if she would still have feelings for him. He touched the diamond earring that he had put in his ear two days ago, and it winked back at him in the mirror. He gave a grim smile, wondering when he passed her in the hallway if she would wink at him just like her earring, or if she and her friends would just walk on by as if he didn't even exist.

He had never found the wrestler Andy Clark's words about how he didn't matter perturbing until just now.

While John was standing in front of the mirror, Brian Johnson was being awoken by the sound of his mother's voice.

"Come on, Brian, time for school," she said from the doorway. Brian moaned and his mother moved impatiently over to the bed and began to shake his shoulders. "Brian, don't start this. You need to get up. Being late is unacceptable. If you're late for school, you'll miss things and you won't get as good grades as you should. Now get up and get moving."

She left the room and Brian rolled his eyes as he grudgingly sat up in bed. He left his room in his green flannel pajamas and headed for the bathroom. After taking a shower, he went back into his room with the towel wrapped around his skinny waist and opened his closet door. He looked through the shirts and pants that were all hung up, trying to find an outfit that at least did not make him look completely like a dork. He thought of the conversation the Breakfast Club had had in the library, about if they would remain friends or not.

He doubted Claire would still talk to him; she had made it plain that she doubted she would. It was a bitch thing to say, but at least she was being honest. He wondered if John or Andy would still talk to him, or if they would snub him because he would not fit in with their groups of friends. Andy had said he would, but Brian had a bad feeling he was more so just trying to be nice at the time. And John? John was too unpredictable. Despite his wisecracking and blunt remarks, Brian had a feeling John cared more about things and/or people than he let on. He was sure Allison would still talk to him though. She had said she would. Of course, she had also said that she did not really have any friends anyway.

Brian sighed. He felt a mixture of anger and sadness. As he had told them all two days ago, he considered them his friends. They had all shared a strong and unique bond that was irreplaceable. It had meant something to him. He knew that, at the time, it had meant something to them too, but did it still? Or was it just for that one day? And why was it so hard just to be friends with him, or at least talk to him from time to time? His mother made him dress the way he dressed. She bought his clothes and insisted that it was important to maintain a gentlemanly appearance at all times, ignoring Brian's remarks that the sweaters and the khaki pants made him look like a dork. It was not as if Brian had money of his own to pay for clothes, and his parents would not let him get a job because they did not want it to interfere with his school work. They also dumped all that pressure on him to maintain perfect grades. It was all that he knew. He did not want to be a perfect student; he _had_ to be.

If he was a nerd, it was his parents' fault, not his own. Why should he be shunned because of what his parents forced him to be?

All Brian wanted out of today was to go to school and find friends in the people that he had poured his heart out to that Saturday. He did not tell them everything he had told them 

with the idea that they would just listen and then blow him off, ignore him, walk out of his life in mind. He had told them those things the way he would if he were confiding with real friends. He wanted that information to remain with them and only them. He did not want Andy going up to a bunch of the jocks to laughingly tell them about Brian's incident with the flare gun and how stupid he was. He did not want Claire gossiping with her preppy friends about how that nerdy Brian kid is so pressured to get good grades that he has no time or skill to lose his virginity.

Brian yanked one of the hangers off the rail in anger. He had been a fool to tell those people such personal things. They were probably just going to continue talking about him behind his back like they had before Saturday's detention. He might have gotten a possible friend out of Allison, but he was doubtful about the others. Hell, he would probably walk down the hall to see John doing an impression of "life at Brian's house" for his bad-ass friends. That would be embarrassing.

Still…Brian was going to at least make an attempt at finding friendship with the people he had shared that sacred bond with in detention. Whether or not it lost meaning to the rest of them, it still meant something to Brian.

The shirt on the hanger he had pulled down was a button-up blue flannel. It was not all that cool, but it was better than most of the other stuff he had. He put on a nice, white undershirt first, then the flannel. He then went back to his closet for pants. He found the most casual pair of pants he owned, which were khakis that could almost pass as cargo pants. Hey, better than nothing. He put those on too and made his way into the mirror. He decided that for now he would tuck the white shirt in and button up the flannel one so as to avoid protest from his mother. He would pull the white shirt out of his pants and unbutton the flannel after he left the house. While in the bathroom, Brian held his hands under the water of the sink briefly and splashed it onto his hair. He got it a little damp and began to brush it back with his hands. He found a comb and made an attempt at styling his hair by combing it upwards. He settled on a look that made him look at least a little less nerdy and went downstairs for breakfast.

He sat at the table and quickly gulped down his mother's pancakes and a glass of milk before going back upstairs to brush his teeth. When he returned downstairs with his backpack, his mother handed him a neatly packed lunch and kissed him on the cheek.

"Oh, Brian, your hair's a mess!" she said, lifting her hands up to fix it. Brian jumped backwards and made his way towards the door.

"Sorry, Mom. I'll fix it on the bus, though. Like you said, don't wanna be late," he told her, opening the door and leaving before his mother could reply. He took a seat at the front of the bus when it came and made his adjustments to his clothes.

He would see what happened today, and then if no one still wanted to associate with him, he would put an end to this charade tomorrow, and go back to being lonely, nerdy Brian Johnson.


	2. Sporto and the Gals

Claire Standish awoke Monday morning to someone's hand gently stroking her hair. She gave a soft moan and rolled over, mumbling, "John…"

"John?" her father's voice answered. "Honey, it's Dad."

Claire's eyes flashed open, looking up as she rolled back over to see her father standing over her with a soft smile.

"Oh. Morning, Daddy," she said hoarsely as she sat up.

"Morning, Precious. Time to get up for school."

"Okay, Dad."

Mr. Standish left the room. Meanwhile, Claire swung her soft, bare feet and dainty pink-painted toes over the edge of her king sized bed.

Why had she said John's name? Sure, she was still half asleep when she said it, but was that not more reason to worry? He was obviously a thought in her subconscious. Why? Why would she like it if John stroked her hair?

Yes, she had been attracted to him that Saturday. Yes, she had kissed him. Yes, she had given him her diamond earring.

She still was not sure why. Claire admitted to herself that she was attracted to John, but she did not think her attraction would develop into anything more. All weekend, she figured that on Monday, the Breakfast Club would be going back to their usual lives, but now, Claire wondered if that was even possible. She had been looking forward to things going back to normal, not to be having deep feelings for a guy that pulled the fire alarm just because he thought it would be funny.

_Why did you give him the earring?_

It was not as if she missed it or anything, but she had never done something like that before, and knew it meant something, just like it meant something that she had said John's name upon waking up, even though she tried to tell herself it didn't.

_Just admit it_, she told herself, _you have weird, deep feelings for the school delinquent._

There was so much more to John though. He had this façade he put on of a heartless jackass, but Claire had managed to see through it that Saturday. When they had all been sitting on the balcony and John had been yelling at her, making her cry, Claire had realized just how much anger he had, and how right he had been. He acted like he did not care about things, but the 

truth was he cared a lot. It bothered him that Claire was born into a good home life and how much she took it for granted, and Claire had realized that. She had cried more out of guilt than hurt at his comments, and she had yelled angrily back at him because she did not like the fact that he had been right, and was exposing it.

John made Claire feel so many emotions. He made her feel special; he made her feel like shit. He made her angry, and he made her laugh. She felt sympathetic towards him, but amazed by how strong he was about his situation. His pent up anger both frightened her and awed her.

Claire sighed. Maybe, as different as they were, they could do well together.

But what would her friends say? What would they say if Claire walked up to John in the hallway and kissed him?

_Wow, Claire, your standards have gone down. You gonna become a troublemaker too? A guy like that is just trash and if you stay with him, you'll become another piece of garbage in this society._

Claire did not like the idea of the things that people at school would say. She liked being admired and liked being popular, and she had a good reputation at Shermer High. She was not so sure she wanted to ruin that for some guy that probably would just want to be with a different girl next week anyway.

Claire thought about when John was going through the contents of her purse and when she had looked through his wallet. There had been many pictures of different girls in it, which had made Claire think that John was just another guy out to "get some". But why keep the pictures then? Most of the guys she knew that only wanted to be with girls for sex did not keep any memorabilia of the girls that they had had those relations with. They just went out, got laid, and found a new girl to do the same thing with all over again next weekend. When Claire had asked John if all the girls he had pictures of in his wallet were his girlfriends, he had replied that only some were.

"_Some I just consider."_

So from the sound of it, there were girls that meant nothing to John, whereas there were others that did. He had said that he considered whether or not he wanted to hang out with them.

If John took the time to think about things like that, then it definitely sounded as if he was interested in actual relationships, but when Claire had asked if he believed in just one guy and one girl being boyfriend and girlfriend, he appeared to disagree with that. Was he lying, trying to fool her? It was possible, even probable. She hadn't bought the whole "never throwing 

anything away" answer at all. It seemed that he had just been trying to use her answer to give her an answer and end the conversation. She knew he didn't really care why she had a lot of things in her purse, but figured he had used the question as an escape route.

If John really did believe in serious relationships, then why did he not want Claire to know that?

She was not sure, but she decided she wished to find out. She wanted to explore the inner workings of John Bender and find a way into his heart.

Smiling to herself, Claire stood up and crossed the large room to her bathroom. After taking a shower, she headed for the walk-in closet. She rifled through her clothes, wanting to find an outfit that did not scream "princess!" There was a light blue hooded sweatshirt made of fleece that her aunt had given to her for Christmas over a year ago, but Claire had only ever worn it when her aunt came to visit. It was not that she disliked the sweatshirt, but it was more physically comfortable than something that made her look dazzling.

She smiled and put it on, feeling adventurous, as if she were breaking some rules that she had always followed. She then went over to the drawer that was seldom opened and pulled out a pair of blue jeans, putting them on with a giggle. Next were the shoes. She did not put on heels or sandals today, but black and white sneakers.

After she finished getting dressed, she made her way over to her desk and sat down, looking at her reflection in the mirror. She still wanted to look pretty for him, but casually pretty, so she only put on a little light makeup.

After a breakfast of fruit, toast, and yogurt, Claire got in her father's BMW feeling so strangely light and giddy, her father giving her weird looks as he drove her to school.

Andrew Clark awoke hearing men on ESPN conversing about the previous night's football game. Grunting, he sat up and gave his father, who was standing there holding his remote, a dirty look. His father spared him a glance and then laughed, saying, "Morning, son. Thought you'd wanna hear the stats about the game last night."

"Not really, Dad," Andy said.

"Yeah, well, anyway, hurry up and get ready so you have time to eat breakfast," Andy's father turned away from the t.v. and looked sternly at his son. "Remember, it's important to eat up and get in all the right nutrition. You can't be a winner if you have the body of a shrimp." He chuckled. "Like that Lenny kid you showed on Friday. Why you taught that boy a valuable 

lesson, son: survival of the fittest. Maybe now that kid will stop being such a weakling and become a real person."

"His name's Larry, Dad," Andy sighed, trying not to feel sick to his stomach at what he had done to Larry Lester on Friday.

His father snorted. "Who cares? The important thing is _you_ taught him a lesson." His father clapped a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "You're on your way to the top. Keep it up, son."

He left the room, leaving Andy sitting there to look the other direction and shake his head. His father's priorities had always been way out of whack and his ideas of right and wrong extremely misconstrued. It was not as if Andrew wasn't used to it by now, but it was still a difficult thing to deal with. He wanted to love his father, but it was difficult to do so when he could not even pretend to believe that his father was a good person.

He grumpily turned off his t.v. and tried to push these thoughts away for now, for today was Monday, the day the Breakfast Club would be reunited among their usual peers after their unusual bond. Andy had been thinking about it, and he decided that he had wholeheartedly meant what he had said in the library about staying friends when they came back to school. As much of a bitch Claire had been about the subject, Andy knew there was some honesty to what she had said. It would be easier to make fun of Brian rather than stand up to his friends, but he actually did like the kid. Okay, sure, he could be a little annoying with how by-the-book he was, but Andy realized that it was not really the kid's fault. Andrew's own parents pressured him to act like an asshole jock, and that is what Andrew learned to be like. Brian's parents pressured him to behave like an uptight, socially inept nerd, and that is what Brian learned to be like. Andy figured he himself would be the same way if that is what his parents had pressured him to be like. At least Andy got to have a social life and have fun. No wonder Brian had wanted to kill himself.

No, Andrew was not going to be like his father. If Brian came up to him, Andy was going to be his friend, and stay his friend regardless of what his peers said. Claire might be too selfish and spineless to stand up to her friends, but Andy was not.

_Now what about Allison?_

Allison…she was really something else. Andy truly thought that she was an amazing person. She was funny, smart, mysterious, and best of all, she did her own thing, her own way. Andy really liked that about her. She did not conform. She thought entirely for herself. It was really attractive to Andy. There was no way he was going to give that up because of his friends. If he saw her today, he decided he would ask her out on a date.

Feeling optimistic, Andy smiled, and got ready for school.

Allison Reynolds' eyes slowly opened. She wondered what time it was, and rolled over to look at her clock.

It wasn't there.

Allison sat up. What? Shit, what time was it? Where was her alarm clock? Had she overslept?

She hopped out of bed and scrambled out of her room and into the hallway. Time, time, time…she raced into the bathroom and looked at the clock in there. Shit! The bus would be there in ten minutes. She felt a wave of disappointment, having planned to utilize the morning to attempt to remake the Allison that had walked up to Andy with her hair and makeup all redone, the Allison that had glowed, the Allison that had attracted the jock enough to kiss her.

There was no time now. She was not positive but figured her parents had probably taken her alarm clock while she was sleeping so that they would not hear it go off and be woken up by it. They did not have to get up for work until after Allison had left for school.

_Stupid idiots! _Allison thought as she hurriedly got dressed. Luckily, she took her showers before going to bed so she did not have to worry about that. _They could at least wake me up or, better yet, get me an alarm clock that isn't as loud enough to wake the neighbors. That way everyone's problems would be solved._ But no, her parents were too wrapped up in their own lives to even care about their daughter. They couldn't take the time to teach her to drive so she could get her license, and with no license or car, she could not drive to a job, and with no job, she had to rely on them for her needs, and if they had no reliability, her needs were not met.

The rest of the Breakfast Club had stared at her like she was some strange creature that had popped out of the ground when she had made her sandwich of sugar and cereal. But when your parents did not always make you dinner or teach you to cook, you had to figure out what to eat for yourself. Allison found herself getting creative and experimental in the kitchen, testing different combinations of food to see if they tasted good. One night, being incredibly hungry and unsure of where her parents were, she had decided to make a sandwich, but there was no meat, cheese, lettuce, peanut butter, jelly, or any normal things that people made sandwiches with. So hey, she had been nine at the time, and when you're a kid, sugar is quite appealing, so she tried putting pure sugar on the slices of bread. She felt, however, that a sandwich with just sugar would not taste right, and would not be substantial enough to satisfy her hunger, so she found a box of cereal. When her sandwich was done, and she had taken the first bite, she was 

extremely surprised at just how good it was. Since then, cereal and sugar sandwiches had become a favorite of Allison's. Everyone else could think she was the weirdest person on the planet for it, but what the hell did she care?

Five minutes left until Allison had to be outside. She brushed her hair and put on a quick touch of mascara before finding shoes and dashing through the kitchen to stuff some food in her bag for a lunch. As she went to hoist her bag up over her shoulder and leave, she stopped for just a second, her eye having caught a bottle of Vodka on the counter.

Her parents must have been in it last night because Allison hadn't been. She felt a slight urge to drop her bag on the floor, take the bottle, and head back up to her room, where she could lay in her bed all day, listen to music, and drink, get lost in the Vodka. There would be nothing to think about, nothing to worry about, at least for a few hours. Even so, it would still feel nice to just lay there for a while with her head feeling light and not feeling stressed or hopeless because she had no idea how to make a life for herself and no guidance of what to do. She did not know anything about money, or careers, or how to get a job. She did not know what to put on her class schedule for next year or if she should go to college, or even the requirements to get into college. She did not know what careers were out there for young woman like herself who had no experience. Most kids at her school had been guided their whole lives, even by parents that they did not get along with. Allison had pretty much been taking care of herself since she was able to walk and talk and was lucky to get the time of day from her parents. There were a lot of things that her fellow students knew that she did not, things that kids steadily learned more about over the years, things that kids cooperated with their parents about, and things that kids fought with their parents about. Allison could not cooperate when her parents did not feel like it, and she could not argue when there was nothing to argue about. So she worried about what would happen to her when she left the shelter of Shermer High School. That is where the Vodka came in. She had not lied to Sporto when she had told him that was her drink…

It would be so easy. She could take the bottle and her bag back up to her room without anyone even noticing. She could stay up there all day and just enjoy not worrying. But if she did this, she would not get to see Andy, therefore, decreasing her chances of ever learning to love, therefore, decreasing her chances of ever having her own family. If she did this, she would miss out on her classes, therefore not doing as well, therefore, decreasing her chances of finding a steady career after high school.

Allison secured her bag around her shoulder, and left the house, wondering if Andy would even still want her or not.


	3. Trying to Change Things

John exited the boys ' locker room and glanced up at the hallway clock. There was still twenty minutes before first period began. He decided to go back outside and wait for Claire to arrive. He was nervous about asking her out and wanted to do it early in the day so that he would not get the chance to say something stupid and fuck it up.

John typically did not attend his first period class, which was American Government, because he found that if he was too bored to remain awake, he got into trouble debating with his classmates about the discussed issues. Not that debating was not allowed; quite the contrary, it was encouraged, but when John became tired of just listening to people and their stupidity, he got heated up and took it "too far" as his exasperated teacher said. He had gotten in trouble for truancy for the first two months that he had started skipping the class, but by now, no one really cared anymore or went out of their way to do anything about it. So he went out back behind the school, sat against the wall, and smoked his pot, allowing his mind to be calmed as he thought about the future he did not think he would have.

What would he do for a living? John had a job now at the local auto-mechanics place. He did not have a car, but walked a few blocks away to work on other people's cars, wishing some were his. In truth, he made decent money from it, but most of it was spent on helping to keep the house he lived in with his parents. He helped pay the bills on time and keep food in the cupboard and clothes on his back. The money that he had leftover was held onto for emergencies. His pot was received from his close friend, Jake. Jake, though his parents did not make much more money than John's, had a savings account in which an inheritance from his father's estranged mother sat. A large portion of the money went to Jake's college fund, but he used the rest on food and pot, the latter of which he split with John.

Point being, John could not afford college. He did not feel adequate enough for college. He figured he would stay at the same auto-mechanics store and get promoted over the years and make more money. Then he could possibly buy his own crappy house to live in. Then what? Would he even be able to afford to buy his own place? What about a family?

His heart sunk whenever he thought about the idea of having a family. It was at that point that he typically pushed it out of his mind with a puff of weed.

John was not heading towards the back of the school, however, but the front for a change. He was completely contradicting the things he usually did and he wondered why. Why _her_? What was she going to change? What was she going to make better, and how? Was she really worth it?

Should he really even be doing this? He did not have much hope for himself, and even if Claire did want to have a relationship with him, could he really let her? He had sworn he would not allow his feelings to put any girl at risk, no matter how much he liked her.

John slowed to a halt in the hallway and just stared at the empty space straight ahead. Why was he doing this? Why was he allowing himself to get his hopes up, possibly get Claire's hopes up too? He was not a man with a strict code of morals so to speak, but he felt obligated not to allow any girl's life to be messed up by being involved in his.

He really cared about Claire, a lot, actually. Yeah, she could be a spoiled brat, but she was still a good person at heart that he felt a close connection to.

It was because he cared about her that John turned around and walked towards the back of the school. It was because he cared about her that he would stay away from her. It was because he cared about her that he would force himself to forget all about her.

Walking swiftly down the hallway John punched a passing locker, Claire's smiling face still swimming in his head.

Claire's father's BMW pulled up to the front of the school and she climbed quickly out of it with a grin, before leaning quickly back in through the window to give her father a peck on the cheek. Her friends, having arrived five minutes ago, loyally waited on the school steps for her as usual. She wished for once that they were not there.

"Hey, Claire," Stephanie greeted her. "So how did that detention go? It's so lame that you had to do that, especially on a Saturday. Did you get grounded? Because I looked for you at Stubby's party but you weren't there from what I saw, unless you were hiding." She gave her silly little giggle as their group of girls walked inside the school and sighed contentedly at the warmth.

"Uh, yeah, the detention sucked, and yeah, I was grounded," Claire lied, already scanning the halls. "It was my mom's fault. I really wanted to go." Another lie.

"Ugh, your mom is so annoying," Brittany rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," Claire answered vaguely as they turned the corner and made their way towards Claire's locker. Hers was always the first they stopped at.

"You all right?" Chelsea asked her.

"Yeah, why?"

"I don't know. I guess you look like you might not be feeling well. You didn't put much makeup on this morning and you're dressed like you just want to sit around the house under a blanket. You got a cold?"

"No," Claire responded, feeling her face grow warm. Here comes the pressure.

"Oh, okay…" Chelsea said, looking at the others, who shrugged.

Once done at each locker, the pack of girls made their way to the cafeteria, where most students hung out in the morning until first period began. Claire began to look around for John as soon as she got there. She did not know where he was in the mornings, or what he did. She did not even know what she would do if she saw him. Still, she looked while her friends chatted and grew into a larger group as more people came over to where they stood.

"Hey, Claire," a male voice behind her said. She turned around in excitement but was disappointed when she saw Andy behind her.

"Oh. Hey, Andy," she said with a small smile.

"So, how was the rest of your weekend?" he asked, hands in his jacket pockets, but not his letterman jacket pockets like usual, she noticed.

She shrugged. "Boring. I was grounded."

"Oh. I thought your dad said you weren't grounded though."

Stephanie, Brittany, and Chelsea looked at Claire in confusion.

"Well, he said that," Claire said, her voice rising higher as she felt nervous, "but when I tried to go to Stubby's party after the detention he and my mom got in a fight about it and I decided it was just best to go with what my mom said."

Andy nodded understandingly while Claire's friends raised their eyebrows at each other and looked away.

"Uh, hi, Claire. Hi, Andy," a timid voice said. Claire turned to see Brian standing there. He actually didn't look like a total dweeb today, but geeze, why did he have to do this?

"Hey, Brian," Andy nodded, ignoring his wrestling teammate Ed's sideways glance at him. "How's it goin?"

"N-not bad," Brian answered, looking relieved that Andy was talking to him. "How about you, Claire, how are you?"

Stephanie, Brittany, and Chelsea grinned and looked away, trying not to show Brian how funny they thought it was that he was actually trying to have a conversation with Claire.

"Um…" Claire replied, looking nervously, from Andy's jock friends, who were grinning the same way, to her own friends. Oh man she could tell they were already thinking she must be taking pity on the nerd population when they weren't around and that now the nerds actually thought she was their friend. She felt her face go red from the pressure. She succumbed. She gave Brian her disgusted look and asked in her bitchy tone, "Why are you interested?"

Her friends giggled while Andy's smirked at each other. Brian looked down at his shoes.

"I was-I was just wondering," he mumbled.

"Why? You got a crush on me or something?"

Claire noticed Andy purse his lips and look away as he shook his head. She felt guilt bubble in her stomach but she didn't know what to do. She really did think Brian was a nice guy but she _hated_ the thought of looking bad in front of her friends. John was right, she was a bitch.

"No," Brian answered quietly, blushing. "I just…enjoyed talking to you in detention on Saturday."

"This kid was in detention with you?" Ed asked incredulously, grinning at Claire.

Claire snorted. "Yeah, it was for something stupid though, nothing real."

"What'd you do, Bri Baby?" another football player, Steve, asked in a mock baby voice.

Andy turned to him and said firmly, "It's not your business."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you had detention Saturday too," Ed said. "Come on, Andy, what'd the little guy do? Say a bad word?"

"I've heard Brian say a lot of bad words, actually," Andy replied evenly, "but that's not what he did to get in detention and it shouldn't really matter to you anyway."

Claire felt another pang of guilt as she saw Brian try to subtly wipe his eye from under his hung head.

"Come on, Andy, are you being serious?" Andy's wresting teammate, Joe, asked.

"Yeah, I am," Andy told him. "Is that a problem with you?"

"No, man, just chill out."

"Okay, then drop it."

The bell signaling that the students had five minutes to get to their first period class rang.

"I-I've gotta go," Brian sniffled. "I'll see you later, Andy."

"See you, Brian," Andy called as Brian hurriedly walked away.

"See you, Claire," Claire's friends told her as they left for their different classes. Andy's friends walked away talking amongst themselves without saying goodbye to Andy or Claire, the latter of whom just stood there for a moment and watched Brian disappear into the crowd and walk away.

"Hey," Andy said behind her. She turned around and felt another stab of nerves when she saw his angry expression. "How could you seriously pull that shit? After we all talked about this on Saturday, how could you actually act like that?"

"Andy, I just couldn't!" she exclaimed defensively. "I was backed into a corner! I didn't know what to do!"

"That's bullshit, Claire, and you know it. All you had to do was stand up to your damn friends for once in your life. It wouldn't kill you to treat people besides them with respect. I'm just glad I was around because I could see in your face that if I hadn't been there to answer for you, you would have told them all why Brian was in that detention with us! You would have humiliated him and hey, maybe even given him more reason to want to do what he almost did to get him in detention!"

"You can't talk about humiliating people, Andy!" Claire said angrily. "You're the one that taped Larry Lester's buns together!"

"AND YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I REGRET IT AND HOW SORRY I AM ABOUT IT, CLAIRE!" He was glaring directly into her face now. "I learned a lesson that Saturday! I'm trying to change! You seem not to have learned anything at all!"

"I did!" Claire sobbed. "I really did, Andy! I just don't know how to change! I don't know. I'm just too scared."

"Well get over it, Claire, because trust me, one of these days, with or without your dazzling reputation, your friends and everyone else will be over _you_."

Andy turned around and walked away angrily, leaving Claire standing in the cafeteria, tearstained and genuinely shocked.


	4. Seeing and Speaking

Allison pushed her way through the bustling crowd in the cafeteria. She saw Andy near the exit, but stopped where she was. He appeared to be yelling at Claire, who was crying. Allison sighed and shook her head. Claire was a person to be disgusted with but to pity also. She really was a kind and gentle person at heart who believed in good things, but she was too weak to stand up for those beliefs. Allison did have to give the girl some credit: her change of clothes showed that she was at least trying to change-not that what she wore was really important. It was the symbolic meaning behind it.

She watched as Andy stormed away from Claire, who stood there for a moment before slowly walking away to her first class. Allison considered trying to catch up with Andy, but she decided to wait till later to find him, when he was hopefully in a better mood.

Allison went to her first class, American Government, and took her usual seat in the back, putting her her head down on her desk as like always. After a moment, however, she felt something bounce lightly off her hair. She sat up, annoyed, and saw a wad of paper on her desk. She looked around to throw it back at her attacker and saw John sitting next to her, waving and wearing a mock excited smile. Allison gave a short breath of laughter. She had forgotten John was in her class; he hadn't shown up in months. She looked at him questioningly and he nodded at the wad of paper. She picked it up, unfolded it, smoothed it out on her desk and read the writing scrawled in pencil:

HI.

Allison smiled, underlined what John had written, crumpled up the paper again and threw it back onto John's desk. He unfolded it, read it, and laughed to himself before putting his head down to go to sleep. Allison did the same.

It was a pleasant surprise, really. She had not expected anyone besides Brian or at least hopefully Andy to even acknowledge her when she returned to school. She knew that John was bold enough to stand up to his friends, unlike Claire, but she was sure that he would never really consider someone like her his friend. The thought of having no friends did not really bother her like it did Brian; it was an idea she had always been able to accept, but that did not mean she still didn't _want_ friends.

Sure, John telling her "hi" on a piece of paper did not exactly make them life pals, but Allison knew that in John's own way it meant something. Maybe the Breakfast Club really could stay alive.

* * *

Brian sat there quietly, other than the drumming of his fingers on the desk. He stared ahead of him with heavy eyes, his gaze unfocused. Normally, he was quite interested in his advanced physics class, but today, for probably the first time ever, Brian wished that he could have first period off.

He had felt really embarrassed and hurt by Claire's rejection, and angry at himself for feeling so when he knew it was to be expected. At least Andy had stood up for him. He thought Andy would have a similar reaction to Claire's, only more subtle. He was so glad Andy had been real with him.

Still, Claire had really upset him. She made him hurt and angry and above all, jealous. He would give so much to be stressed out because he had too many friends than because of school and his grades. He would love to have more freedom from his parents to be able to dress how he wanted and spend his time the way he wanted than to have to devote his adolescence to his academics alone. Anytime Andy had ever tried to blow off school a little so that he could focus some time on a social life, it had always backfired. Oh how he would love to be the one surrounded by the people that everyone in the school admired; and oh how he would love to be the one acting bratty towards Claire to make sure that his reputation was not stained.

Brian sighed. The meanness in him at that moment left. He knew that even if by some miracle he had been popular, he would never have dismissed someone like that, even if he didn't like them. Brian enjoyed being nice to people. Even when he did get so angry and envious, there was always guilt for it moments afterwards. He regretted that sometimes. Sometimes he wished he was more aggressive.

_Let's look at the positives _he thought to himself. _Andy seems to like me, and seems genuinely interested in being my friend, or at least being cool with me. I know Allison will still talk to me: she has nothing to lose by doing so. John…well, I doubt it, but who knows. Claire, unless she changes, obviously won't want to talk to me. So that's at least two friends, two real friends that I didn't have when I left school on Friday._

Feeling slightly cheered up, Brian picked up his pencil, looked up at the board, and hastily tried to catch up on the notes he had missed while stuck in his thoughts.

* * *

It was now Andy's lunch period. He walked through the halls, having at that point calmed down since his argument with Claire earlier that morning. No, he had not expected much from her, but he had still been plenty pissed off by her attitude. He was more angry at the fact that she almost told her friends about how Brian had gotten in detention for bringing a flare gun to school to kill himself with than her actually speaking snottily towards the kid. And while Andy could not read minds, he knew in his gut that if he had let Claire and their friends keep talking, Claire would have blurted Brian's whole story for them. If that had happened…well, Andy was glad it didn't. Brian did not need any more pressure.

Andy's thoughts were now focused on Allison. He had not seen her all day (three hours), and was getting more and more nervous as time passed.

Instead of setting his books down at the table his "friends" sat at, Andy moved around the cafeteria, trying to find her, hoping that she was in his lunch period. He circled the area twice, pausing occasionally to try to get rid of someone who wanted to talk to him, then checked the lunch lines. Still no Allison in sight. Feeling a little dismayed, Andy made to go find his table and sit down, but then felt a tap on the shoulder. He sighed, turning around wearily to see what Angus from the lacrosse team wanted this time, only to find the girl he had been looking for standing right there.

"I'm sorry," Allison said, looking at Andy's exasperated expression uncomfortably. "Is this a bad time?"

"What?" Andy sputtered, feeling suddenly shocked that she was standing right in front of him. "No, no, it's not a bad time. I just thought you were someone else. I was actually looking for you."

"You were?" Allison sounded pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah," smiled Andy. "Um, I actually wanted to ask you something…"

He stood there and marveled at her beauty, the beauty that she had even without Claire dolling her up. Allison was her own beauty, her own mystery, her own secret-

"So…what did you wanna ask me?" she asked with a hesitant smile, bringing Andy back to Earth.

"Oh. Well…I-I was wondering if you…wanted…to go…maybe to-I don't know-dinner and a movie sometime-with me…"

Andy's insides turned hard as worry weighted down on them. He stared fearfully at Allison's expression. She grinned and looked down. Then, she lightly bit her grinning lip and took a couple steps towards him, making his heart race even faster. She stood there for a moment, looked up into his eyes with that playfully shy grin, and kissed him on the cheek.

"Is that a yes?" Andy asked quickly.

Allison laughed. "Well, duh, Sporto." He gave a sigh of relief as his whole body relaxed. "When?"

"Well, I've' got a wrestling match Friday night…so how about Saturday night?"

"Works for me. You got a car?"

"Yeah, I'll pick you up no problem. Where do you live?"

"I'll write down my address. So what time you wanna get me?"

"Five?"

Allison smiled. "That works for me too."

Andy returned a gleeful grin. "Awesome. Well for now do you want to eat lunch with me?"

"Um…" Allison looked over at the table where Andy's friends were sitting with hesitation. "What about your friends? They probably won't like me."

"Yeah, well, I'm not so sure I really like them anymore." Andy looked down and took Allison's hand in his. "You know, spending that whole day with you and the others in detention, all that talking we did and everything…it really got me thinking. High school…it's so messed up. I want friends that really care about me and don't just like me for the things I do. I want to spend my time with people I can really talk to. I really think that we should try to hold on to the Breakfast Club."

"Yeah, I agree. I mean, I really don't have any friends. I'd like some but I don't want to have to change myself in order to get some. But do you really think we can get the whole Breakfast Club to stay together and all become friends?"

Andy shook his head. "I don't know, but I'd like to try."

"You even want to be friends with John?"

"Well, kind of," Andy said, looking away. "Sometimes Bender really pisses me off, and I feel like we're complete opposites, but thinking about it, I think he and I might actually be able to relate to each other. I know we did a little on Saturday, when we were talking about our dads. I don't know…maybe we could make it work."

"I think it's possible," Allison nodded. "John really isn't that bad of a guy. This might sound weird, but I think he just wants people to think he is."

"Why would anyone want that?"

"John's…well, different."

Andy chuckled. "_You're_ different…in a completely amazing way."

Allison smiled. "Seriously though, I think I kind of get John. I think he's just…complicated. I think that you guys just have a hard time understanding each other and that if you guys do wanna be friends, well, you're both gonna have to work at it."

Andy nodded. "You know, you're really smart."

Allison shrugged.

"You are. I like when you talk."

Allison grinned and shook her head. She grabbed him by the arm and said, "Come on, Sporto, let's get some lunch."

* * *

John was on his way to the cafeteria for lunch, carrying his brown paper bag. The people whose lunch period just ended were walking out in thick masses, getting in John's way and aggravating him. As he shoved past a slow group of freshman boys, he noticed Andy and Allison filing out of the cafeteria together, holding hands, Sporto's friends walking behind them and looking confused. That made John feel a stab of pride.

_Good for you, Sporto_.

He continued through the mob of people and dropped his lunch on the table he and his friends sat at. Jake, Robby, and Duke were already there.

After sitting down for a moment, emptying the contents of his lunch by holding his bag upside down over the table, someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Brian standing there looking nervous.

"Well, hey, Copernicus, how's it goin'?"

"Um, fine, John," Brian answered, casting fearful glances at John's friends.

Following his gaze, John said, "They look like they got fangs or somethin' to you?"

"No, no, I just-I was wondering if maybe I could talk to you…alone."

John saw Jake and the others look at each other and raise an eyebrow at John, who said, "Anything you need to say to me can be said in front of them. Take a seat, Bri-Bri." He pulled out a chair for the kid and asked, "What's your dice?"

"My-my dice?" Brian responded in confusion as he nervously sat down between John and Duke.

"Your story, your problem, your question-what's irkin' you?"

"Well, I…I just wanted to know if-if after Saturday-we-you and I-are still friends…"

John watched Brian look down at his hands, which were fidgeting on the table. He was aware of Jake, Robby, and Duke looking between their best friend and the brainy kid in confusion. John felt a tinge of sympathy for the kid, having to resort to finding the criminal he talked to in detention as his only hope of finding friends. He was a nice kid that deserved better company than the likes of him. This was a kid that was gonna go places in life, whereas John would probably remain in the same town until he died, or was put in jail. An academic dork like Brian should stay away from John, who could possibly bring the kid down.

_This kid's already down, _John thought. His self esteem was and his confidence was-and brains or not, to achieve anything in life took at least a little confidence. Maybe John could help him with that? It might help to get the guy to relax. Brian needed to get a few more B's and learn to calm down. He had cracked when he had gotten his first B in woodshop, because he had been arrogant and thought that academic intelligence would always be enough to get him places. He did not realize that sometimes skill and intelligence outside of studies would be more important to have and that not learning those skills that his family probably considered unimportant would one day push him over the edge, having never handled things he didn't understand before.

The kid could really use a friend.

John sighed and shook his head. "Are you kidding me?"

Brian looked disappointed.

"Dork, doobie brothers are for life," John lightly slapped Brian on the cheek and he looked up.

"Are you serious?" Brian asked.

"You smoked my doobage," John shrugged. "I can't let you just smoke with me and walk away. Now get out your food pyramid lunch and eat something. You look like a dressed up twig."

Jake, Robby, and Duke chuckled and continued eating while Brian just looked at John in confusion before grinning sheepishly and opening his lunch bag.

* * *

Claire sat in her math class and felt like crap. Brian was a nice boy and she had given him her snottiness. She had not been able to stop thinking about what she had said and what Andy had said. Andy had been strong enough to stand up for Brian. Claire hadn't though.

_Am I always going to be this weak? _

Then again, she had warned Brian that if he came up to her after Saturday that she was just going to snub him. The kid knew it was coming.

"_You are a BITCH!" _echoed in her head. Only it was not just John's voice saying it, but her own voice said it in unison with his.

Hadn't she decided this morning that she was not going to be that bitch? Hadn't she decided to change?

She had, but she did not realize how hard it would be.

Andy had been right. If she did not change soon, one day, she would end up all alone. Her friends did not care that much about her. They liked her, envied her, wanted to be her, but when it came down to just Claire as a person, that did not matter to them. Claire was pretty. Claire was fun. Claire made them look good. Then once they left the high school world, they would not need her anymore. There would be a new Claire at whatever schools they went to for them to follow around.

The bell rang and Claire, startled, jumped. She stood up from her desk and swiftly left the classroom. She walked quickly down the hall, not wanting any of her friends to catch up with her. She slowed slightly, however, when she noticed a certain someone walking in the opposite direction of her. John was walking by, his face sticking out in the blur of nameless people. As they passed, he noticed her, and their gazes locked. She stared after him longingly, gaping, not sure what to do. They turned their heads over their shoulders as they passed, and Claire watched John stare at her seriously, eyes wide, and mouth slightly open, before closing his eyes as if in pain and facing his head forward again.

Claire turned her head forward too, walking slowly, arms hugging her books. She stared blankly ahead of her, not really seeing anything other than the image she replayed in her head of John walking passed her.

He had kept walking. So had she.

Why hadn't either of them stopped?


	5. Dude Talk

John was in a bad mood. It had been such a weird Monday… He'd almost asked the prom queen to be his girlfriend, he'd witnessed a popular wrestler and a strange, quiet girl become a couple, and he'd made friends with someone whose g.p.a. was not only higher than a two-point-oh but also probably a perfect four-point. Today still did not beat the unusual Saturday he had recently experienced, but all the same…things were happening differently. He wondered if it meant something, if anything meant anything.

He had just passed Claire in the hallway, and he had unwillingly made eye contact with her. And in that moment that they looked at each other, he felt longing and desire that had nothing to do with lust. When his eyes had locked onto hers, images filled his mind, attractive images of him and Claire holding hands, him and Claire talking about their desires and the future, him and Claire under the stars, him and Claire laughing, smiling, and taking on the world together. Images of being happy and having a purpose, of someone to love and receive love from in return, all filled his head at that one moment. He had wanted to stop what he was doing, run over to her, and hold her face in his hands while he kissed her, wanting to transfer his feelings into her so that she would understand just how deeply he felt about her.

He could not do this. He would not let himself do this. Claire was so much better off without him. The girls whose pictures were in his wallet, yeah he liked some of them, cared about some of them, but not the way he cared about Claire. He did not care about those girls enough to worry about involving them too much in his life. They hung out a little, and as long as it was not at his house, it did not matter what they did. He may or may not be a bad influence over them, may or may not bring them down, but none of them mattered enough for it to bother him. If he did anything to mess up Claire's life, he would feel horrible.

And there was also the ever-nagging worry of becoming like his father. He did not think he could ever hit a woman or a child, but he was honest with himself that he did have the anger issues. What if he lost his temper and took it too far one day? He could never forgive himself. What if it happened once, and then it happened again, and then it continued to happen to the point where he did not care anymore? What if he became so cold and apathetic towards others that he hurt people that he once loved? John did not want to be like that. He tried his best to impress people, to make them think he was cool, funny, and tough, partly because he wanted them to think he was a badass so they would stay away from him and he could not hurt them. If people thought he was a jerk, they would leave him alone. Part of it though, was John genuinely making an attempt at being a likable person, at being someone far different from his father. The problem was he did not know how to be himself and be liked. He could not even be sure he really knew who he was as a person.

John's reasons for staying away from Claire were because he wanted to protect her from himself, but if he did stay away from her, and force himself to forget his feelings for her, what if he found someone else in the future that he felt this strongly about? Should he just never fall in love? If so, would that not turn him into a cold person, becoming the person that his father was? What if having a loving relationship with someone actually made him warmer and kinder, fulfilling his wish of being unlike his father? Was it worth risking the future of another person?

John clenched his fists in his jacket pockets as he walked into his last class of the day: astronomy. This class was for seniors that did not have a need to take physics. The material was intriguing enough to keep even John's interest without the class having demanding expectations. He took his usual seat, leaned back, kicking up his feet on the unoccupied seat in front of him, and looked at the stars on the ceiling as his teacher turned out the lights. All he could think about was how one particular group of stars looked like Claire's face.

Brian walked out of the school at the end of the day and headed toward his bus, thinking about Larry Lester's absence in his advanced English class they shared at the end of the day. He wondered if it was because of what Andy had done to him. The poor guy got picked on a lot, but what Andy had done on Friday was probably the cruelest thing anyone at the school had ever done to him. Even Brian did not get picked on much, he just lacked a social life. Sure people would rude remarks or express annoyance at his nerdy personality, but they usually just ignored him, having no interest in him. Larry, on the other hand, well, just looking at him made people want to mess with him.

Brian was about to board his bus when he noticed John walking through the school parking lot, towards the football field he cut across on his way home. After a moment's hesitation, Brian jogged over to John to catch up with him, calling his name from behind. John glanced over his shoulder and returned his face forward as Brian came up to his side.

"I thought you rode the bus, string bean," John commented.

"I do," Brian replied, "but I was thinking maybe I'd walk home today."

"And what, is this a date?"

"No, no. I just thought it would be…fun."

"Fun, eh?" John grinned in amusement. "Well you might wanna button up your jacket there, Galileo, cuz it's a little chilly after a while."

They were on the other side of the football field and disappeared through a small group of trees, taking them to a nearby street.

"Where do you live?" Brian asked, trying not to shiver as the cold began to creep through his jacket and up his arms.

"Setburn Street, by the convenience store," John replied, looking ahead of him with a dull expression. "And how about you?"

"I actually live a few streets down from you: Crodham Drive. I didn't realize we lived that close to each other."

"Me neither," John frowned. "I thought your rents were more uh…financially equipped."

"Nope," Brian shook his head. "I mean, they make a decent amount of money, but they invest it in the education and appearance of my little sister and I, and things that look nice in the house."

"Ah," John nodded as if Brian's parents struck him as really wise. "Sounds like they really got a lot of expectations for you."

"They do…" Brian mumbled. "And that's what makes it so pressuring for me to do well. I feel like if I don't live up to their expectations, not only will they be disappointed and angry, but all that money they put into tutoring and lessons and uptight clothes and a college fund will have been wasted."

"It's still okay to get B's, dork," John said.

"So I should deliberately do worse than what I'm capable of?"

"No, you should try your best, but without putting all your life's energy into one goal. You should aim to be successful, not aim to be perfect."

"But if I don't get top grades, their money-"

"Will what? Be wasted because you get into a good school but aren't the valedictorian? Tell you what, Brian, if you worry so much about being perfect, you're going to go literally bonkers and end up in a cuckoo house. That's when your parents' money will have been wasted, when you get yourself so stressed out that you can't even attend college and have to spend time locked in a room with padded walls instead of making something of yourself."

There was silence for a moment as Brian took in what John just said. His point seemed valid. Brian had already seriously contemplated suicide just because an F in shop would put one B on his report card. If Brian continued on this path of striving towards perfection, would he really be in good enough mental shape to perform well in college, or even make it to college? He had not killed himself on Friday, but what if he got another "unacceptable" grade and cracked again? Could he guarantee he would not contemplate taking his life a second time? Or what if, like John said, he got so stressed out he ended up needing therapy? Those things would be wasting his parents' money. Chilling out a bit to keep his sanity would not be. Brian sighed and shook his head.

"I just don't understand," he said.

"Understand what?"

"How I can exceed in classes like advanced physics and advanced calculus, but I fail to make a lamp correctly."

This statement irritated John, just like it had when Brian had told the Breakfast Club about it in the library.

"Okay, dweebie, let's look at it this way: do you find physics and calculus to be easy?"

"Most of the time," Brian nodded. "I mean sometimes I'll get a little stumped, but I'm always able to figure it out."

"And from your perspective, is it easy for the general population to understand?"

"Well, I guess not. Most people seem to think it's hard."

"Okay," John nodded. "Do you think it's easy to make small objects, such as lamps? Or at least, did you before you actually tried to do so?"

"Well, I did, yeah, but now it seems a lot more complicated."

"And from, again, your perspective, is it easy for the general population to understand?"

"Yes," Brian mumbled.

"Now tell me again, Bri-Bri, why did you take shop?"

"Because I thought it would be easy."

"But why?"

"Well…" Brian blushed, "because I saw the people that generally took it and they don't seem like-um…"

"Go ahead and say it," John told him calmly.

"They just, most of them, I mean, didn't seem like they were very smart."

"Okay, and why did they seem like they weren't very smart?"

"Because they can't even pass the basic regular classes."

"But they-we-got A's on our lamps, while you got an F. Now why do you think that is, if you're so much smarter than us?"

"I'm not talking about you," Brian said uncomfortably.

"I'm one of the dopes that takes shop that you stereotyped. You are talking about me. Tell me: why do you think you got an F in shop while people like me got A's?"

"I…I'm not sure."

"Exactly," John said matter-of-factly. "You see, your problem is that you think intelligence is based on your success in the academic world, the studies of English, math, social studies, and science. In your mind, if one excels in these academic areas, they're set for life; they're very intelligent. But, Brian, have you ever done anything practical? Have you ever worked on a car? Fixed a sink? Paid a bill? Made a budget? Anything like that?"

"Uh…not that I can really think of."

"So how are you ever gonna survive the real world when you're on your own? Yeah sure, you have a fancy degree and can get a job paying you lots of money, but how are you going to know how to do anything unrelated to the job that you've focused all your attention and studies upon? See, your parents have done everything like that for you, and they don't think it's important for you to learn. They take care of all the practical stuff while you just study your ass off day in and out. You study what society believes is the important stuff, while the practical stuff, they label as electives. The hard truth is that you can't succeed without the practical stuff."

"Well can you succeed without the academic stuff?" Brian asked indignantly.

"In most cases, no. You should at least know the basics, which I do, and so do my other dope friends that take shop. We might not always do well in our basic academic classes, but that's just because we're content with understanding the general idea of the material. We don't do the homework or a lot of studying. We don't have the motivation for it. Getting by is what we're concerned about, not getting good test grades. In shop, you don't take academic tests, you show you understand the material by doing. You don't have to do anything outside of class. It's about the skill and knowledge you've acquired, not how much you studied or how much homework you did. See, most people, like you, base intelligence solely on academic success. The true definition of intelligence is to be savvy in multiple areas instead of just one focus. To be very knowledgeable in a variety of aspects is real intelligence. In your case, well, you're just what they call book smart-you understand academic concepts easily, but you don't know how to do day-to-day things. Me, I'm what people call street smart-I understand the way people and life work and I'm good at dealing with the day-to-day things, but I'm not good at studying and understanding academic subjects. Everyone's brains work differently. My friends and I might not understand trigonometry, Brian, but it's us you're going to be coming to in ten years to fix your car properly."

Brian felt dumbstruck. He did not even realize they were already walking down his street by now. He had been drinking in every word John had been saying to him, and, though he did not want to admit it, he knew John was right. Brian had never given much thought to what it would be like when he was living on his own. He did not know how to handle money, how to fix things, or how to form relationships, although he was currently trying to improve on the latter. What was he going to do?

"Maybe…" Brian started slowly, "maybe you and I could…you know, help each other out?"

"How's that?" John asked, looking at him.

"Well, maybe I could help you do better with the book stuff, and maybe you could help me do better with the street stuff?"

John laughed. "It's a little late to turn me into college material, buddy."

"You don't have to go to a university or anything. You could go to a two year technical school. They're supposed to be more hands-on than academic like a four year college. A lot of those just require C's. For some all you have to do is graduate high school. It depends where you go. Then from there you could learn even more about working on cars or whatever it is you like to do so you could get a more qualified and better-paying job."

John slowed down for a moment and was looking ahead of him with a crease in his brow, and Brian could tell he was definitely taking serious consideration into what Brian had just told him.

They were silent for another minute and then they were in front of Brian's house and he stopped walking, John copying him.

"Well, this is my place," Brian said. "You uh…wanna come in?" he asked awkwardly.

"Nah," John answered. "No offense, dork, but I'm pretty sure your parents won't exactly be skipping about if someone like me walks through your door."

"Oh, okay," Brian said, a little crestfallen, but understanding his point.

"But, dweebie, I will take you up on your offer. I'll uh, look at some tech schools, and you help me meet the requirements. Meanwhile, I'll help you get a little more acclimated with the real world. Sound good?"

"Y-yeah, sure!" Brian grinned.

"See ya tomorrow then." John walked away, looking still pensive. Brian almost skipped to his front door in happiness at the friendship he and John were starting. When he crossed the threshold of his house, he did not even care about the nagging and critical remarks his mother was making about him being late getting home. It looked like he, nerdy Brian Johnson, was going to actually have some good friends.

Andy was sitting in the front seat of his dad's truck on the way home after school, feeling light and giddy about being with Allison. He had kissed her goodbye on the school's front steps and it felt like greeting a great friend he had not seen in a while, even though it had only been two days since he had kissed her. He had not been sure after the first time he kissed Allison if it would ever happen again. And it had!

"So…" his father said from the driver's seat, glancing at him for a moment. "Who was that girl I saw you with?"

"Her name's Allison," Andy told him calmly, trying to suppress a grin.

"Is she the same gal I saw you kissing after your detention?"

"Yep," answered Andy with pride.

"She looks a little…different than she did Saturday."

"So?"

"Nothing, she just seems…unusual," his father nodded at the last word he used. "What was she in detention for?"

Andy thought about this, then started laughing and his father looked at him with concern.

"What?" his father asked, looking annoyed.

"I'm not actually sure what she was in there for. She said she had nothing better to do." The last three words came out as unsuppressed giggles.

"All right…are you sure you should be dating a girl like this?"

Andy stopped laughing as his amusement was replaced with anger. "There's nothing wrong with her. She's a really great girl, Dad, and I like her a lot."

"You just met her, son. I don't like the idea of you dating a girl you met in detention that could possibly be a bad influence on you. She could get you into more trouble than you already manage to find on your own and you'll miss matches and get kicked off the team."

"You know what? Maybe I don't want to be on the team anymore!" Andy exploded. "And, Dad, for your information, my so-called friends are bad influences and so are a lot of my ex-girlfriends, and you know they are, but you don't complain about them because they either play sports or cheer for the sports. If anything, Allison's a great influence because she actually encourages me to think for myself!"

"Think for yourself?" his father repeated loudly. "You already think for yourself, Andy, it sounds like she's one of those rebellious whacks that thinks you shouldn't listen to anybody!"

"Don't you EVER talk about Allison or any other girl I like like that!" Andy yelled.

"Don't you yell at me, boy, or you're going to regret it!"

"Whatever," Andy grumbled, casting an angry gaze out the window. What he wouldn't give sometimes to use a wrestling move on his father to pin him down and yell in his face…

Author's note: I know not a lot of big stuff is happening at the moment, but these things are important to the plot of the rest of the story. There will be a big Claire/John moment in the next chapter that'll probably make you go "HOLY FLYING CHICKEN FINGERS!" or uh…something like that……O.O


	6. Caring and Crashing

Claire left her father's BMW the next morning in a rush, hurrying up the school steps in an attempt to avoid her friends. She was determined this morning to find both John and Brian, John for obvious reasons, and Brian because she wanted to apologize to him. It was not until lunch that she saw Brian's back walking ahead of her, and she followed him through the rush of students.

She had avoided her friends all day, not caring about what they were doing, only hoping they would leave her alone right now. She knew they were probably sitting in the courtyard, where they typically ate lunch while gossiping about the rest of the school. Claire remained in the student center, trying to catch up to Brian.

She opened her mouth to call out his name as he sat down at a table, but remained silent as she saw that he was sitting with John and his friends. Was this seriously happening?

Claire closed her mouth but did not leave. She walked over so that she was standing between where John and Brian were sitting and they both looked up at her. She kept her back to John, feeling to awkward to say anything to him, but faced Brian.

"Hi," she said with a small smile.

"What is it, Claire?" Brian asked sullenly as John's friends watched Claire in confusion, plainly wondering why she was there.

"Brian, I…I just wanted to apologize for how I acted yesterday. I didn't mean any of those things I said."

"Then why'd you say them?" Brian asked as if he was a teacher quizzing a student.

"I just…lost my nerve in front of my friends," she replied, feeling John's gaze burning a hole through her back.

"So what you're saying is you can only be nice to me when your friends aren't around?"

"No, I-"

"Tell you what, Claire," Brian cut her off, his voice a little shaky with the attempt at being assertive, "how about apologizing to me in front of your friends and telling them what you really think of me?"

"Brian, I…I'll try. I'll try, Brian, how's that?"

"You'll try?" John's voice said from behind her. Claire looked up at the ceiling and sighed before turning around to face him. "You humiliate the kid, then don't have the balls to apologize for it in front of your friends and tell them you're gonna like who you wanna like?"

"No!" she said defensively, feeling her face grow hot as John, Brian, and John's friends all watched her. "I've been ditching my friends all day so they wouldn't get in my way because it's you guys I want to talk to."

"So you can't talk to us in front of your friends?" John asked, his voice rising a little.

"That's not what I'm saying! Here, Brian, come with me right now. They're right outside and I'll tell them exactly how I really feel about you to their faces with you right there."

"Okay," Brian said, standing up.

"What about me, Claire?" John said. "Can I come too? You gonna tell your friends how you feel about me also?"

"What-what do you mean?" Claire asked, feeling nervous. John stood up and walked right up to her.

"Are you going to tell your friends how you really feel about me? Are you going to tell them how you kissed me? How you gave me your earring?" He turned his head slightly and put his finger to Claire's earring, which still twinkled in his ear.

"I…" Claire was lost for words. Was John just toying with her or did he still really care? Because it seemed to her like he truly cared about her and the connection they had. She didn't know if she could even admit her feelings for him if it was just the two of them in the room, let alone in front of her friends. Her real feelings for John were so much more than how she felt about Brian. Brian was just a friend, but John…

"I can't," she whispered, watching John's face fearfully.

"Because I'm the school delinquent…" John stated grimly.

"No…I'm sorry, John, just please wait here and I'll be back in a minute."

"No, cherry, take Brian out to meet your little princess pack and then return him here and go sit with your real friends. I bet they miss you."

Claire watched John bite into a sandwich, not looking at her, and she tried to hold back tears. She really wanted to be with him and she did want to tell him how she truly felt, but it would be hard enough talking about it to just him. She did not want to have the conversation around her friends or anyone else. This was not about her not having the guts to be honest with her friends, this was about not having the guts to be honest with him. She only wished he knew that.

"Come on, Brian," she said quietly, and Brian walked with her across the student center into the courtyard.

Allison's lunch period had already gone by, but the next period she had free, and spent it as an office aid, delivering passes and papers. It gave her something to do. She was currently supposed to bring a paper to one of the teachers that watched students during this lunch period. She cut across the courtyard to get to the student center more quickly, and noticed Claire and Brian standing across from a group of Claire's friends. Allison stopped in her tracks, and crept behind a nearby tree so that she could listen in without being noticed. Andy had told her about how Claire had humiliated Brian yesterday. She wanted to see what happened.

"Hey, guys," Claire said casually.

"Hey, Claire. Where have you been all day?" one of her friends asked.

"Oh, around," replied Claire loftily. "Had stuff I needed to take care of. But I wanted to properly introduce you. Everyone, this is Brian. Brian, this is Stephanie, Brittany, and Chelsea."

"Um, hi…" one of her friends answered in a snobbishly confused way.

"I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted yesterday, Brian. I didn't mean the things I said and I only said them because I was worried about what they would think."

"It's okay, Claire," Brian said, sounding amused.

"What do you mean you were worried about what we would think?" one of her friends asked incredulously. "You guys don't like each other, do you?"

"Not in a dating way, if that's what you mean," Claire laughed. "But Brian is one of my friends. I met him in detention and he's pretty cool."

"Uh…."

"So he might be hanging out with us sometimes, if he wants to, that is."

"Um…"

"Yeah, I'd like that," Brian said happily. "I'm gonna go finish my lunch with the guys now though. See you later, Claire."

"Bye, Brian," Claire chuckled.

Allison grinned behind from behind the tree.

"Claire, isn't that kid kind of weird?" Claire's friend asked.

"I think he's cool," Claire repeated. "He's just got some stress that you and I don't have."

"All the same…"

"Do you have a problem with him?" Claire asked aggressively.

"I don't know. I guess if you like him, we can like him too, or try to anyway."

"Good."

Allison chose that point to casually walk out from behind the tree and continue across the courtyard. Claire looked at her as she passed and Allison waved. Claire returned it with a smile and Allison laughed at the looks on the faces of Claire's friends. She walked into the student center and handed the teacher his paper, bursting into laughter and earning a strange look from the teacher.

Claire felt so light the rest of the day. It felt so good to finally stand up to her friends. The only thing bothering right now was John. He was not happy with her, and the more she thought about it, she was not happy with him either. He had ignored her since they'd gotten back to school, made no attempts at talking to her or anything, and now she was supposed to be the bad guy because she wouldn't tell him how she felt about him in front of her friends? In fact, the more she thought about it, the more angry she was. By the end of the day, she was positively fuming.

When she exited the building at the end of classes, she saw John walking somewhere ahead of her, cutting through the parking lot, and she ran to catch up with him.

"Hey," she yelled and he turned around, stopping in the middle of the parking lot.

"Hey, what, princess?" he asked in a mockingly cheerful way.

"You know, you haven't said one word to me since we got back to school until I found you," she said. "So don't go being mad at me because I don't want to tell you how I feel about you in front of my friends."

"You're right, Claire, I haven't come up to you since we got back to school. There's a reason for that and it's for your own good."

"Oh, right, so you've been avoiding me, for me. I see," Claire said, dripping with sarcasm.

"That's right, it has been for you, because I do-yes I'm gonna say it-care about you. I care about you, Claire, and yes, I've been avoiding you because I care about you."

"That is so ridiculous, John!" Claire said angrily, aware and uncaring of the fact that everyone outside was now watching them with interest. "Don't lie to me or make excuses about why you haven't talked to me. I know I was a bitch to Brian yesterday, but I truly regret it and I did something about it today. You can ask him, or Allison for that matter too. And I've spent yesterday and today trying to find you to talk to you about how I feel!"

"Yeah, I could tell you were really trying to find me when you passed me in the hallway and didn't so much as tell me hi!" John was getting angry, but Claire did not care.

"You didn't do anything either! You haven't shown one bit of interest in me until I tried to apologize to Brian! Then you got mad because I didn't want to open up on how I feel about you to anyone but you! It's not because I'm scared of what other people will think; it's because I was scared about what YOU would think!"

"Get over it! Face your fears! Quit being so damned scared of what everyone's gonna think!"

"Well can you blame me? You didn't even seem interested in having anything to do with me since we got back to school!"

"I'm trying to do what's best for you," John said through clenched teeth.

"Bullshit, John!" she stamped her foot out of anger. "That is the biggest lie I've ever heard. If you really don't care about me, then just say it!"

"I would! I actually tell people what I really think about them. And Claire, I think you're fucking awesome, but for your own good, you should stay away from me!"

"Stop making lies and excuses and sarcastic remarks! If you really cared about me, you would let me make my own decisions and you wouldn't resort to lies about why you've been dismissing me! Are you even paying attention?!"

John was looking past Claire's face, behind her, eyes wide, and before she could turn around she heard a revving and a screeching and the next thing she knew, John was grabbing her by the shirt and throwing her off to the side. As she hit the hard pavement, Claire had thought for a moment that John had just gone crazy and lost his temper with her, but then she opened her eyes after landing on her hip and felt a stab of fear and shock as she saw a car hitting John and knocking him ten feet away, another car behind it crashing lightly into its bumper.

The cars had come to a complete halt as soon as the first one had made contact with John's body and the drivers of both cars got out, looking panicked. Everyone else that was outside started running over to the scene and Principal Vernon came running out of the school. Claire sat up on the ground, feeling the pain in her side from where she'd landed, but she didn't care about that. She looked at John, laying on the concrete, eyes closed, and bleeding.


	7. The Steps to Change

Andy had just exited the school with Allison at the end of that day, and they had run into Brian. Brian had told them he was looking for John, who he was going to walk home with, when Andy and Allison had agreed to walk home with them too. Andy had not wanted another angry car ride home with his dad and it would give him a little extra time with Allison before he had to go home, scarf down some dinner, and go to wrestling practice for three hours. Allison, Brian, and he had started looking around for John when they heard yelling, and saw John and Claire arguing in the parking lot.

"Do you think we should go over there?" Andy had asked, looking at the other two.

"I don't know," was Brian's reply. "I don't think it's a good idea."

Allison had grabbed them both by the sleeves and started pulling them towards John and Claire. They stopped on the curb, where they could hear everything perfectly, and then Andy had seen two guys that were racing their cars squeal around the bend and slam on the brakes as they realized John and Claire were standing there. John had seen they were coming in just enough time to toss Claire aside before getting hit as the car in front slammed into him as it stopped. The other car lightly crashed into the first one's rear bumper. Both guys had gotten out of the cars, looking scared, and Andy recognized them as two of his teammates.

Andy, Allison, Brian, and the rest of the students outside rushed over to the scene. Many of Claire's friends rushed over to her to see if she was okay while John's friends were rushing over to him. The two boys that had been racing just stood there, one holding his hand over his mouth and the other clutching his hair in both hands. They knew they were in serious trouble.

Andy did not bother to see how Claire was and went straight for John, knowing he was the one that actually needed to be worried about. He, Allison, and Brian crouched around John, along with John's friends Jake, Robby, and Duke.

"John! JOHN!" Jake yelled lifting up John's shoulders and looking him over.

"Back up, back up!" a voice yelled from behind and Andy looked to see Principal Vernon running over. The school security guards and other teachers were coming outside and herding the students away from the scene of the accident. Andy's teammates that had caused the accident, Joe and Kyle, made an attempt at walking away with the other students and Principal Vernon looked up at them, pointing a threatening finger, and yelled, "YOU STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"

Joe and Kyle did so, looking pale and shaky with fear. Vernon looked at Claire, saw that she had no serious injuries and was only shocked, then came hurrying over to where John lay, shoving the kids around him aside.

"Don't move his head!" Vernon yelled at Jake, who looked up, then back down, before gently setting John's bleeding head back on the ground. "What kind of idiot are you? Get back, all of you!"

Andy, Allison, Brian, and John's friends all stood up and took a few steps back.

"Sir, has somebody called nine-one-one?" Andy asked.

"No shit, Clark!" Vernon yelled from the ground. "What kind of school do you think this is?! Mrs. Gaffler's already on it!"

And sure enough, within the next minute, two ambulances and police cars came speeding around the street corner and into the school parking lot. The police moved all the students besides Claire, John, Joe, and Kyle onto the sidewalk. They roped off that section of the parking lot and the other students had to wait until they cleared it before their busses would be able to leave or their rides could go through. Joe and Kyle were being questioned by the police and then both were arrested and taken away. Andy sat on the steps with Allison and Brian as they watched John being taken into one ambulance on a stretcher and Claire being examined by an EMT.

"Do you guys think he'll be okay?" Brian asked.

Allison said nothing, just watched the ambulance speed out of the parking lot with the same worried expression she had had as when she had watched the others smoke pot in detention. Andy looked at Brian, feeling sick to his stomach, and said quietly, "I don't know."

He felt bad. He felt bad because in detention, he had told John to drop dead, that he did not count, and that he may as well not even exist at this school…and now…what if John no longer did exist at this school, or anywhere? What if he had just dropped dead? Andy thought he was an ass sometimes, but he did not actually want him dead. They seemed to have gotten along better towards the end of detention, especially after Andy had talked about his dad. Andy did not think that any of the things he had said regarding John's place at the school had actually bothered John until John had repeated them back to Andy. Then, Andy had realized that what he had said really did bother John.

Brian had recounted to Andy and Allison his conversation with John yesterday when they had walked home together and how he had been sitting with John and his friends at lunch the last two days. So Bender really was trying to be a decent guy. Andy had thought that maybe if he walked home with him too, they could start over and possibly form something along the lines of a friendship.

Now, would he ever have that chance?

* * *

Brian sat beside Allison on the steps, feeling worried for John. He also felt a little bad for Claire, who he had warmed up to again since she had stood up for him in front of her friends. He knew Claire cared about John, and was probably feeling really worried and probably a little guilty. He, Andy, and Allison had heard her yelling at him and telling him to stop pretending to care about her, right before John had thrown her out of the way and probably saved her life.

Claire had obviously been wrong.

Brian knew she did have some good reasons to be angry with John, though she still should not have said the things she did to him. Yes, John's reason for avoiding her had been to protect her, but Brian felt he was unintentionally giving mixed signals. At lunch, John had been hurt when Claire had said she did not want to tell her friends how she felt about him, though it was for different reasons than what John had thought. And John had let her know that he was angry about this, instead of just letting it go. It seemed to Brian that while John was trying to stay away from Claire, he probably should act as if nothing was going on between them. Then again, he figured John may have just been angry because he thought that Claire did not want to introduce him to her friends just because he was the school delinquent. It might have just been an issue of disgust in what he thought was Claire being cowardly and arrogant. Brian sighed and rested his forehead on his knees.

He did not understand people.

John was supposed to help him overcome this obstacle. What if John did not make it? Who, then, would help Brian become less stressed out? Who would keep him from going insane?

* * *

Allison was staring straight ahead of her as she sat on the steps between Andy and Brian, getting annoyed as Andy's wrestling teammates kept coming over to confirm from him that it had been Joe and Kyle that had caused the accident. Andy would answer in short sentences, trying to stay patient, and they would eventually leave and go gossip about it to other people. All of them ignored her, not caring to acknowledge that Andy had a new girlfriend.

She liked it that way though.

Allison hoped John would be okay. He really was not a bad guy. He just needed to learn how to be himself and not try to impress everyone all the time by being an asshole.

After a little while, the EMT finished with Claire and the area was cleared so the students could leave. Allison remained on the steps with Andy and Brian while Claire walked slowly over to them. Her hands were red and scraped and she was holding an icepack under the bottom of her blouse, by her hip. She sat gingerly down not next to Andy but to Brian, probably knowing that she was in better books with Brian than Andy right now.

"Are you okay?" Brian asked her.

"Yeah," she answered quietly. "I'm just bruised. It's John I'm worried about. Did anyone see how he looked? The EMT wouldn't tell me anything."

"Nope," Brian replied shaking his head. Allison did not say anything and neither did Andy.

"I can't believe this happened," Claire said shakily, her eyes starting to swim with tears.

"Yeah, so much for Bender giving a shit about you, right?" Andy said sarcastically.

"I feel so bad," Claire hiccupped. "I just want to apologize to him right now."

"Yeah, well, you can't, Claire, because he was too busy showing how much he doesn't care about you," Andy replied with anger.

Claire started crying all the way, putting her face in her hands. Allison frowned at Andy, but he was looking away. She knew that he was really just upset with himself and his previous attitude toward John, but was taking it out on Claire.

"It wasn't her fault, Sporto," Allison told him aggressively.

"Well she certainly wasn't saying very decent things to him, was she? And he still saved her life!"

"You're just mad because you feel guilty for how you spoke to John in detention! Don't take it out on her."

Allison could see Andy's jaw tighten as he clenched his teeth. He did not reply to what she said but looked straight ahead of him, and Allison could tell Andy knew she was right. She squeezed his hand to let him know it was okay and he squeezed it back.

"Claire!" a voice yelled and Claire looked up to see his father rushing towards her from his BMW, her mother attempting to jog behind him in her high heels. Claire stood up and met her father in his outstretched arms as he hugged her. She could not help it-she started sobbing into his shoulder as her mother started rubbing her back.

"Honey, are you okay?" her mother asked.

"I'm f-fine, but John…John…" Claire could not finish her sentence and continued sobbing. Her father patted her head and held her tight. His embrace was protective and comforting, calming her down. After a few minutes, she lifted her head up, drying her tear-stained face, and said, "Daddy, we have to go to the hospital."

"What? Why?" her father asked.

"To see John!"

"Honey, are you even friends with this kid? Who is he? All I know is he got hit by the car and you almost did."

"He is my friend and he saved me!" Claire said loudly though her throat was dry.

"He saved you?" her mother asked. "This boy that got hit saved you?"

"Yeah, he pushed me out of the way. I have to go see him!"

"All right, all right, we'll take you there," Claire's father said in a voice that made it clear he did not want to cause her any more hysteria.

"We should give this boy a reward," her mother announced.

"A reward?" Claire asked incredulously. "Mother, he might be dead!"

"Well, if he's not, I'm just saying…"

Claire shook her head and opened the door of the back seat. She looked at Andy, Allison, and Brian before getting in, and they watched as she and her family drove away. One thought that distracted her from John as she sat in the car and Andy, Allison, and Brian disappeared from view was the way that her mother and father had both just operated together, civilly, and only caring about Claire. She could not help but feel a little good inside.

* * *

Andy, Allison, and Brian did not have a car. They would have asked to go with Claire, but the BMW was too small for all of them. They sat on the steps, silent. John's friends had disappeared after he had been loaded into the ambulance and Andy could only assume at least one of them had a vehicle and that they had left right away.

They now remained the only students sitting on the steps, unsure of what to do. The other students had gone home. Joe and Kyle were probably still at the police station. Principal Vernon was no doubt in his office making phone calls and clearing up the situation. Andy's wrestling coach had announced through the megaphone while everyone was outside that wrestling practice was cancelled for tonight. Andy was sure that Joe and Kyle would be suspended if not kicked off the team. In fact, their place on the wrestling team would probably be the least of their worries. They could be charged with manslaughter if John did not make it.

Andy's father finally pulled up to the curb of the building. He got out of the car and walked over to the three students, looking macho, or at least trying to.

"Hey, son, I heard there was a car accident and that wrestling practice has been cancelled. Is that true?" he said by way of greeting.

"Yeah, dad," Andy replied monotonously. "One of my friends got taken to the hospital and the two guys racing got arrested."

"Who was it, sport? Who got hit?"

"You don't know him. His name's John Bender."

"Bender?" his father repeated, looking thoughtful. "Hang on, yeah I do!" He suddenly looked angry. "That kid's the one that messed up my car!"

"What?" Andy questioned, now feeling interested.

"Yeah, remember when I took it in a few months ago? Well that Bender guy worked on it and fucked my shit up!"

"I doubt he did it on purpose, Dad," Andy told him.

"Either way, little bastard's a toe rag anyway. I should never have taken the car to him in the first place. When I saw that muggin head walking up to me I regretted taking it there at once. That's a kid that's going nowhere but down. The state of his clothes and just his whole mannerism…that kid's a loser, son, a loser."

Andy felt hot with rage as his fists clenched beside him. He was putting as much effort as he could into not standing up and yelling in his father's face.

"Who were the idiots racing the cars?" his father asked with a snort. "Bender's friends?"

"No…" replied Andy shakily through gritted teeth. "It was Joe and Kyle from my team."

"What?! Ah, well, they were probably just trying to have some fun. Boys will be boys. They'll just get a little slap on the wrist, I'm sure. Hopefully they'll be able to compete in the match this weekend."

"Are-are you kidding me?" Andy said with a false laugh, looking up at his father in revulsion. "You said they were idiots before I told you who they were, and then now because they're on the wrestling team with me, what they did was all right."

"Well, son, they messed up, but they shouldn't get that much punishment for it."

"JOHN MIGHT DIE!" Andy roared, finally standing up. "They might have KILLED someone, Dad!"

"Don't you yell at me like that!" his father shouted back, stepping towards him. "That little shithead deserved it anyway. They were probably doing society a favor."

"Don't talk about one of my friends that way!" Andy sounded mutinous.

"Since when is Bender your friend? The people you should be worried about are your teammates."

"They're ASSHOLES!" Andy yelled. "They're inconsiderate, selfish, bullies that walk around like they're kings of the school! I should have realized who they really were before and I would have stopped hanging out with them a while ago!"

"Hey, these are people that are gonna go places, young man, and they can help you go places too. They have more going for themselves than that Bender asshole!"

Andy turned away from him, taking a few steps as he tried to slow his breathing and calm down. Allison was looking up at him from the steps and Brian was looking off into the distance, seeming angry but not saying anything. Andy's father finally took notice of them.

"Who are these guys?" he asked, as if referring to dirty spots on his shirt.

"This is my friend, Brian," Andy said quietly. "And this is my girlfriend, Allison."

"Really…" his father said. "What kind of people you hanging out with nowadays, son? This kid looks like a guy you should be teaching a lesson to about weakness. And this gal looks like she belongs in a Halloween store."

That was it. Andy rushed at his father and grabbed the front of his jacket. "HOW DARE YOU TALK ABOUT THEM LIKE THAT?" he snarled fiercely, his father staring at him in shock. "DON'T YOU EVER LET ME HEAR YOU SAY ANYTHING RUDE TO OR ABOUT EITHER OF THEM EVER AGAIN. I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE MY FATHER, I WILL KNOCK YOU TO THE GROUND!"

His father glared at him for a moment before throwing Andy's hands off his jacket. He looked at him murderously and walked over to the car, keeping his head still facing Andy.

"Don't even think about coming back to my house tonight, boy," he said threateningly. "If I see you on my property, I will teach you a lesson like you've never experienced and you will be sorry…"

Andy glared back as his father got back into the car and drove away. He stood there, huffing with rage, his heart racing and his head pounding.

"Sporto?" Allison said gently, touching his shoulder from behind. He did not look at her. "Andy, it's okay. You did the right thing."

He turned around, feeling himself weaken inside as he saw her cute face staring at him in concern. He pulled her gently towards him and wrapped her in his arms, holding her tight. She was the best thing that had ever happened to him. Her presence made him strong, gave him the courage he needed to stand up to his father. She could never realize just how much he really appreciated her right now.

* * *

Brian watched Andy's face slowly soften as he and Allison resumed their seats next to him on the steps.

"Thanks for sticking up for me, Andy," Brian told him gratefully.

"It's no problem," Andy sighed. "I'm really sorry about what he said, Brian. You're not weak."

"I'm not exactly very built in case you haven't noticed," Brian chuckled.

"I'm not talking about physically. I mean you're pretty strong-you know…as a person," Andy nodded.

"If you say so," Brian shrugged. "In case you've forgotten, I almost killed myself because of an F."

"Yeah, but you didn't, and that's what makes you strong."

Brian grinned appreciatively. "Thanks."

Andy smiled back at him. "Don't mention it." He looked at Allison, whose head was resting on his shoulder now. "I'm sorry for what he said about you too."

"It's okay," Allison replied, smiling slyly. "I actually thought it was kind of funny. I really do belong in a Halloween store."

Andy and Brian started laughing.

"Well it is my favorite holiday! I mean, I could be a mannequin or something and just stare at the customers. It actually sounds like a lot of fun to me."

They were snorting now.

"Why are you laughing so hard?" Allison chuckled.

After they all stopped laughing and were back to sitting there quietly, staring into space again, Andy turned curiously to Brian and said, "Aren't your parents gonna pick you up?"

"Oh, no, they're at a meeting today, and since I walked home yesterday they figured I would just do it again today," Brian explained. Then he looked at Andy. "Where are you going to stay?"

"Huh?" Andy asked.

"Since you can't go back to your house…"

"Oh…yeah. I hadn't really thought about that yet," Andy responded, looking crestfallen.

"You could stay at my place," Allison offered.

"Really? Your parents wouldn't mind?"

"They're so wrapped up in their own worlds they don't notice or care what I do. Come stay with me, Sporto."

"Yeah, okay!" Andy said cheerfully. "That sounds great!"

"Well, now that we got that cleared up," Brian said, clapping his hands together. "How are we going to get to the hospital?"

"Let's just walk," Andy said, standing up. He seemed to be in much better spirits since Allison said he could stay at her house. "It's not like we've got anything better to do," he laughed. Allison stood up too and they both looked down at Brian.

If he took however much time it would take to walk to the hospital and then to his house after, he was going to be in a lot of trouble with his parents. He was not sure when they would be home, but it would definitely be before he did. The old worry monster came out and started gnawing at his insides.

"I don't really…" he started saying, but he thought of John, who had said that he would help him stop worrying so much. John, who had said he would help him calm down. John, who had said he would help him learn to have fun.

John, who was at the hospital, in who knew what kind of shape…

"Why not?" Brian sighed, standing up and grinning. "Let's go!" he pointed ahead of him and began marching down the steps while Andy and Allison laughed and followed. Brian felt nervous about how much trouble he would be in, but he tried not to care about it, for John.


	8. The Hospital

Claire was not allowed to see John right now. Only immediate family could see him, but she might be able to see him later. Right now they were not sure if he was going to make it or not.

Claire wanted to wait. She sat in a chair between her mother and father. Her parents did not seem to realize why they were there and acted as if they were humoring Claire with some game she was playing. They only cared for Claire's safety and if the boy who saved Claire lived or not was not as important to them.

She had asked the nurse if any of John's family was with him. The nurse looked grim and said, "Just his sister."

"He has a sister?" Claire said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Apparently."

"What about his parents? Didn't you guys call them?"

"Of course we did, but his father, who sounded drunk, just laughed and said, 'stupid boy' and that if he dies, it'd be good riddance." The nurse shook her head, looking angry.

"That's horrible!" Claire said. "What about his mom?"

"Don't know," the nurse shook her head again. "The father answered the phone and hung up shortly afterwards."

Claire sat there in the waiting room, feeling bad beyond belief. If it had been her that had gotten hit, both her parents would have come, probably bearing gifts and flowers. Her brother would be there too, worrying for his little sister. And she felt she would have deserved the treatment John was getting more than the treatment she would get. He had saved her after all the awful things she had told him. She had told him he did not care about her and he saved her rather than taking the short few seconds he had to run out of the way.

Looking around, Claire saw the three guys she recognized from John's lunch table sitting in seats on the other side of the room, each of them looking grim. Without a word to her parents, she stood up and crossed the room, approaching them uncertainly.

"Hi," she said quietly. They all looked up at her, looking confused. "You're John's friends, right?"

"Yeah, we are," Robby replied, looking angry. "So why are you here?"

"Because I wanted to see how John's doing."

"Right, but like you just said, WE are John's friends. So why are YOU here?"

"Because I care about him," Claire said softly.

"Really?" Jake asked, standing up. "If you care so much about him, princess, then why did you snub him at lunch?"

"I wasn't snubbing him," Claire said calmly. She normally would have begun to start sounding defensive and then would have gotten progressively hysterical in pressuring conversations like this, but she felt so used to it today that she remained calm. "I told John in the parking lot, as I'm sure you all heard, I was too scared to tell him how I really feel."

"Yeah, and how do you really feel?" Jake interrogated as if he was a cop and Claire was a suspect.

"I…I think I…" Claire swallowed. It was important that she got the words out now. She had to admit out loud how she really felt. She had to prove that John meant something to her, and who better to prove it to than John's best friend? She took a deep breath. "I think I love him…"

Jake stared at her hard, his eyes roving over her face as if waiting for her expression to give something away. He finally looked away after a moment, glaring off to the side.

"Do you realize how much he cares about you?" he asked quietly.

"I do now, yes."

"I wish you had earlier. Then maybe he wouldn't have had to save your ass to prove it."

"I know, and I'm sorry," Claire told him, still calm. "I wish the same thing."

"See, Claire, it is Claire, right?" Jake asked. Claire nodded. "When he told you in the parking lot that he cared about you, you should have believed it, because John never tries to ignore a girl no matter how much he likes her."

"Is that supposed to make me feel flattered?"

"It should," Duke told her seriously, speaking up for the first time. "See, John likes a lot of girls, some he cares about a good deal for, but he still hangs around them. You…you're the first girl that he truly cares about, because he wants to leave you alone. He's genuinely worried he'll mess up your life."

"What? That's stupid. How would he mess up my life?"

"It's his parents. They kind of suck, and he's worried he'll turn out like them. He also doesn't think he has anything going for himself, and he doesn't want to bring you down. With other girls, he's never cared enough about what being in his life would do to them to stop hanging out with them. With you…he does."

"Being with him can't be that bad," Claire said. "What does he really think he's going to do to me?"

"He's worried he'll hurt you, won't be able to take care of you, he'll be a bad influence over you, he'll treat you badly-all that stuff. Frankly, I think him being with someone he cares about so much would actually be good for him and that he'd do pretty well in a serious relationship, but whoever he's with is going to need to care about him back." He looked at Claire and raised his eyebrows.

"And you don't think I would?" Claire asked, feeling angry.

"Not particularly," Duke told her.

"Let me ask you this, Claire," Robby said. "Why is a gal like you suddenly interested in a guy like John?"

"What do you mean?"

"Come on. You're rich, attractive, popular. You're into school spirit, a nice wardrobe, shopping and all that preppy stuff. Why do you want to be with someone like John, who doesn't have much money, trusts only a few close friends, smokes pot, works on cars, and makes it his daily mission to be as obnoxious as possible? He doesn't know what he's going to do with his life and is probably going to work for the same car place till he dies."

"I like all that about him. I like that he knows how to work hard. I like that he isn't stupid enough like me to think that everyone really cares about him. Yeah, I'm popular, but John and some other people recently made me realize that most of those people don't really give a shit about me. I wish he wouldn't get high as often as he does, but I…well, I got high with him Saturday, and I enjoyed it." Jake, Robby, and Duke all looked at each other in surprise at this. "And maybe if I'm with him I could help him find motivation to see if there's anything he's truly interested in doing with his life, and if that's working on cars, I'm happy with that. It's good, hard work, and I respect him for that. I've never worked a day in my life. It's something I should really learn to do," she said seriously. "I know I haven't known John long at all, but I feel like we really connected on Saturday. He's honest with me, brutally honest sometimes. He makes me so angry and frustrated sometimes but he's usually right and I've been kind of realizing over the last few days that I need to, well, get over myself. He makes me laugh and he makes me put things in different perspectives. I like that he appears simple but is actually very…complicated," she laughed at that. "I just…I'm really attracted to him, but it's not just like a chemistry thing. I like getting to know him and I like what kind of person he is. I feel really strongly and seriously about him…"

No one said anything. Jake, Robby, and Duke all seemed humbled by Claire's words about John seemed to have stunned them into silence. She even felt a little taken aback herself. She could not ever remember talking or thinking the way she did about John for another person.

Finally, Jake nodded and said, "Okay," in a way that Claire knew to mean approval. He smiled at her and held out a calloused hand. "I'm Jake by the way, John's best friend."

Claire looked at his hand for an instant in surprise and then smiled as she shook it. If someone had told her a week ago that she would find herself happily shaking hands with one of the school potheads, and falling head over heels for the school delinquent, she would have openly laughed in their face and told them they were crazy.

* * *

Allison, Andy and Brian finally entered the hospital. They asked around until they were directed to the waiting room where they saw Claire sitting by John's friends. Allison noticed that her parents were no longer there and wondered if they had gotten bored and left.

"Let's go sit by them," Brian said, already heading over. Allison and Andy followed him, holding hands, and when they approached, Brian said, "Hey, guys. Any news?"

Allison thought it was nice to see Brian looking so comfortable with the others. She was happy for him.

"No. They still aren't sure if he's going to uh…make it or not," Jake said solemnly. "We've been here for two hours now."

"How did you guys get here?" Claire asked.

"Walked," Andy replied. Allison could tell by his tone that he was trying to sound friendly to Claire after how he talked to her earlier. "Where are your parents?"

"They left," Claire snorted. "Had things to do. They said to call when I'm ready to go and they'd pick me up. I'm sorry I just took off like that earlier, but you guys couldn't have fit in their car anyway. It's too small."

"It's all right," Andy shrugged. There was a moment of silence while Allison, Andy, and Brian stood there. Brian hesitated, then sat down next to Jake, clearly unsure of whether or not two days of sitting at lunch together was enough to be sitting next to each other in a hospital.

"So…who are you guys?" Robby asked, looking at Andy and Allison. "Aren't you a wrestler or something?"

"I'm Andy and this is my girlfriend, Allison. I'm supposed to be a wrestler, but I'm thinking I might quit the team. I've had enough."

"Wait, you guys are dating now?" Claire asked happily. Allison looked down and grinned while Andy nodded with a smile. "Since when?"

"Yesterday."

"Wait, how do you guys all know John? Is this that Breakfast Club thing dork here was talking about?" Duke asked.

Allison looked around at everyone. Brian looked like he was waiting to see what they would say. Claire and Andy looked at each other and exchanged smiles and nods, which made Brian grin and chuckle lightly.

"Yeah, it is," Claire said with a bright smile. Allison smiled too. The Breakfast Club was still alive.

Everyone's smiles faded, however, as the nurse came over to them.

* * *

Brian stood up, and so did Claire, Jake, Robby, and Duke. All of them watched the nurse, holding their breath.

"He's stabilized now," she said quietly. "He should make it."

Brian let out a sigh of relief and the others all grinned at each other, letting out their breath as if they had been having a contest of who could hold it the longest.

"He's still unconscious, and probably will be for a couple days. He has some broken ribs, a broken leg, a broken arm, some internal bleeding, and a concussion. The internal bleeding is what caused the most problems, but we've managed to stop it, for now at least. Most of the broken stuff is on his right side seeing as he had about half a second to brace himself and try to protect his head from what I heard. His sister will be leaving once you guys get to the room, but I can only let a few of you enter at a time. So you're going to have to split up your visit. Just make sure you keep it quiet."

The nurse led them all through the halls of the hospital and told them to wait as she stopped inside John's room. She came out with a young woman in her twenties that was wearing a tank top under a leather jacket and ripped jeans. She had brown hair like John's that was pulled up in a messy ponytail and she shared John's eyes and nose. She wore a lot of makeup and had a tired look about her as she smiled weakly at them.

"You must be John's friends," she said. "I'm Rachel, John's older sister. Thanks for coming, but I gotta go now."

She walked away without another word and Brian watched her over his shoulder. "How come his parents didn't come?" he asked, frowning at Rachel's departing back.

"Because they're dicks," Jake replied sourly. "If you don't mind, I think Robby, Duke, and I should go in first." The others nodded. Robby and Duke opened the door and went in, Jake behind them. He proceeded to go in, but stopped for a moment. "Uh, Claire, do you want to go in with us or wait?"

"It's okay, I'll wait," Claire responded. "That way the Breakfast Club can all be together."

"Whatever you say," Jake told her and went in too.

Brian, Claire, Andy, and Allison waited, leaning against the wall. Brian was starting to feel quite hopeful about everything. It sounded like John was going to be fine. It would take a while for him to recover, but he would be okay. Andy and Allison were not only together, but going to live together for a while. And everyone besides the unconscious John had agreed that the Breakfast Club was still together. Brian was going to have friends, real and good friends, not annoying math geeks or the school creeps that he had to resort to hang out with because there was no one else. This was his senior year. He would be graduating from high school in a little over two months. Maybe he could actually graduate and have some friends to grin at as they threw their caps in the air. He could have some friends to go to graduation parties with over the summer. And he could have friends to miss when he went to college.

College…The realization that they only had a couple months left at school before they would all go their separate ways made Brian feel suddenly gloomy. Would it really be worth the time and effort to maintain the Breakfast Club friendships when they would all be going in different directions soon? Would they lose contact or keep talking to each other?

Still, Brian thought, looking on the bright side, it would be better to graduate with some good relationships than without, and at the least, they would all learn from each other.

Jake, Robby, and Duke left John's room after a few minutes.

"He looks like shit," Robby said with an attempted chuckle.

"Yeah…" Jake said, seeming out of it. "Well, we'll wait here for you guys so you don't have to walk home."

"Really?" Andy asked, surprised.

"Yeah, really, Sporto. Just because we don't exactly follow the rules of society doesn't mean we're dicks."

"No, I know," Andy replied quickly. "Thanks. That's really nice of you."

"Will we all be able to fit in your car though?" Claire asked.

"It's a pick-up, so some of you'll have to sit in the back, but it beats walking, right?"

"Yeah, it does," Brian agreed.

"All right, well hurry up. I can't stand being in this place and it's kind of making me want to pull the fire alarm."

Brian remembered Principal Vernon talking to John about how he got in the detention by pulling the fire alarm, and then how when Vernon asked what John would do if his dope was on fire, he had said it was impossible because it was in Brian's underwear. Brian suddenly let out a loud snort of laughter and everyone looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"Don't worry about it," Brian giggled and he led the way into John's room.

* * *

Andy stood back to let the girls in before him. He shut the door once he was inside and followed the others over to John's bedside. He was on his bare back and was covered in bandages. The few exposed areas of skin were extremely bruised and scraped. He was also connected to an IV.

"Geeze…" Brian breathed.

Claire walked all the way up to the bed and looked all along John's body, her mouth open. She put her hand gently on his face and ran her fingertips slowly over the blankets covering him to his toes. Andy watched her and was surprised to see that her eyes were dry, seeing as she was pretty emotional. She did nothing though but stare at John.

Andy felt like someone should say something. Were they not here to visit him? Not that John would be able to hear anything they said, but still.

Andy cleared his throat. "Hey, Bender, we're all here for you, buddy," he said. "Um…you better feel better soon or I'll beat the shit out of you."

"Wow…" Allison said dryly.

"What?" Andy grinned.

"You're so sweet…"

Andy laughed.

"Uh, hey, John, it-it's me, Brian, and, well, I just wanted to say thanks for letting me sit with you at lunch the last couple days and-and being my friend and stuff," Brian said awkwardly.

"Hey, John, it's Allison. I'm sorry these guys are being goofballs and talking to you like they're at your grave, but I hope you feel better soon," Allison remarked.

Andy and Brian both laughed. Claire was still silent, looking thoughtful and serious. Finally, she said, "It's me. I'm sorry for what I said, as well as for not wanting to tell you how I feel. And…and I think I love you…" She leaned over and planted a soft kiss on his forehead.

Andy, Allison, and Brian went very quiet, watching Claire. She looked at John for another moment then said, "I think we should go now." The others nodded and followed her out the door.


	9. Bender News and Bad News

Distant beepings…the sound of slow, deep breathing…a voice, one he had not heard in about two years…Where was he? Who was he?

Too tired to open the eyes yet. Images of a red-haired girl with a cute smile…Claire. That was her name. Images of a parking lot and arguing, then a car…then sudden pain and darkness. Head becoming clearer. He was in an accident. That's right. The breathing was his own and he stopped for just a second to check. He was John Bender and he had been hit by a car. He was alive. He felt more awake now and opened his eyes.

Everything took a moment to come into clear focus. When it did, he looked around, realizing he was in a hospital bed. The beeping was coming from a monitor he was attached to. The voice, he realized slowly, belonged to Rachel, his sister. Why was Rachel here?

She was talking on the phone next to his bed, trying to stay quiet. Her back was to him so she did not realize he was awake. He tried to say her name but nothing came out. His throat was too dry and his body too weak. He tried again, but it still would not come out. He needed some water.

"Get this through your fucking head!" Rachel hissed. "You and dad boned each other without wearing a damn condom, and out came me. You did the same thing again, and out came Johnny. We don't exactly want to be, but we're your kids, and you're our parents, so why don't you take some goddamn responsibility for that fact for once?!" There was a pause. "Oh, I see, you have more important things to be doing than making sure your kids don't get hurt, like what, sitting on your ass?" Another pause. "It's not your fault if we're too stupid not to get hurt? Hey, in case you haven't heard, Johnny saved a girl's life on Tuesday. That's better than anything you guys have ever done." Another pause. "Don't blame me and Johnny for being born, that's your fault, you dumb whore. You could have put us up for adoption. We all probably would have been better off." Another pause. "You KNOW that was not the case!" Rachel hissed so mutinously that it was worse than any shouting. "I can't believe you're still too ignorant to look at the facts. Johnny saw what happened. Why the fuck do you think he helped me get out? I didn't want my own father…UGH! Just show some damn decency for once in your pathetic life and see how your son is doing!" One more pause. "Yeah, well if I thought he'd be better off, I'd have him move in with me in a second, but he needs to graduate high school and my work is too far away, and if he transfers now, he's gonna be totally confu-oh, that's right, I'm sorry, you don't give a shit!" She hung up the phone.

John took a deep breath through his nose and looked up at the ceiling in frustration, then back at Rachel. It was hard to tell with her back to him, but he figured she was trying to calm herself down. Their parents were very good at making them angry.

She finally took a deep breath in and out and stood up, paced once back and forth, then glanced at John and stopped, realizing he was awake. She smiled grimly at him and said, "Hey."

John raised the corners of his mouth and his eyebrows in response.

"How do you feel?" Rachel asked.

John swallowed and tried to speak again. His throat was still very dry. He mouthed, "water", however, and Rachel retrieved a cup for him. She helped him tip it down, receiving an irritated expression, and he felt better.

"Thank you," he managed to say hoarsely.

"No problem."

"What are you doing here?"

"Mom called me on Tuesday and told me you were hit by a car and at the hospital. She and Dad don't care enough to see how you are, so she thought she'd let me deal with it."

"Sorry," John grinned.

"Pshf, it's not your fault. I'm kinda proud of you actually."

"Really? For getting hit by a car? Well if that's what gets me on people's good side maybe I'll do it more often."

Rachel chuckled. "I meant for saving that girl."

Red hair and cute smile. Claire. "Oh. So I did save her, right?"

"Yep," Rachel smiled. "She and your other friends came to visit you while you were out."

"She did?" John asked in surprise. "Who else was she with? Jake? Robby? Duke?"

"All three of them, plus three others I've never seen before."

"Three others…what'd they look like?"

"Well it was two guys and a girl. The girl was dark-haired, kinda weird-looking. One of the guys had short brown hair and a letterman jacket on. The other guy was skinny with blond hair. Ring any bells?"

John sat there thoughtfully. A lot of people had come to see him. The whole Breakfast Club had come to see him. Had their bond truly been that strong then? He came back to reality and nodded slowly. "Yeah, rings a few bells. So…what's the dice on me, then? When can I get out of here?"

"Well…they aren't sure. It depended on when you woke up too. They'll be in to check on you again in a little while and then they'll probably figure it out."

"What's today?"

"It's Thursday morning. So you were out a little over thirty-six hours."

"Geeze," John groaned, making an attempt at moving his various body parts and getting some painful results.

"They'll probably knock you out with some morphine when they come to check on you."

"I love drugs," John said fondly. After a moment, he said, "So was that mother dear?"

"Yep," Rachel answered with pursed lips. "I've been trying to convince them to at least come see you. Once your friends got here on Tuesday, I tried going over to the house. That was a pleasant welcome," she ended sarcastically.

"Does Mom still think you seduced Dad?"

"Oh yeah. Because having sex with my asshole father was really my decision."

John clenched his fists, just the memory making him angry. When he had been thirteen and Rachel had been seventeen, their father had gotten drunk and decided that his daughter had grown to be quite attractive. One day, he had tried to rape Rachel, who fought him off pretty well until he hit her head on the floor. Before too much could happen, John had entered the room, seen what was going on, snuck up behind his father, and threw him off. That was the only fight John had ever won against his father, probably because that was the only time his fear had ever given him so much strength. They had told their mother what had happened but their father said that Rachel had seduced him, and their mother believed him. That night, John and Rachel plotted Rachel's escape, knowing that there was good reason to believe this could happen again, and that if it did, both of them could end up dead from the struggle. So Rachel left with some cash she stole from their parents, and managed to make it on her own. She was now bartending a few counties away and living in an apartment by herself.

"Hey," John said awkwardly, "Thanks uh…thanks for comin…I know it's not easy for you to be back here."

"Well somebody had to come to make sure that your hard head was fine," Rachel smiled.

* * *

It was early Thursday morning when the alarm clock went off. Andy felt himself being slowly pulled out of sleep and wondered why his father was not waking him up. Then he remembered he was not at his house, but Allison's, and he smiled.

Allison's fist pounded the alarm clock, knocking it off the nightstand and jerking Andy awake. He opened his eyes and sat up, looking at her laying next to him, burying her face into the pillow of her bed.

"Hey, we have to get up for school now," Andy told her, patting her arm. She merely moaned. "All-i-sooon," he sang, walking his fingers up her arm playfully. "Wakey, wakey."

"All right!" Allison groaned, sitting up. Her dark hair was messy and her eyes were heavy with sleep. Andy thought she was the cutest thing in the world at that moment.

He had now slept at Allison's for two nights, and he loved it. Her parents did not ask questions, merely nodded in acknowledgement. He could understand how living alone with them could be lonely for Allison, but he appreciated that they did not interfere in their relationship.

Andy's mother had called Allison's house Tuesday night when he did not come home, having found the number and address for her house on a piece of paper in his room for when they were going to go on their date. She had told him it was okay to come home, that his father would not really attack him or call the cops on him. Andy told her no. She always said that his father had a temper and was stubborn, but that he had good intentions. Andy could not agree. He knew that if he had returned home, he would probably have had the police called on him by his own father. His mother would yell at his father to stop, but his father would not listen. Andy told his mother he was not going home yet and after much arguing, she finally agreed.

They left for school and went to the student center when they arrived. There, like yesterday, they met Claire and Brian and sat at the same table. Claire had become quiet and sat there barely listening to the conversations for the last two days. She typically just gazed off into space. Andy was sure she was thinking about John and when he would be awake. Brian started talking a lot about what he wanted to study in college. It was a conversation that had been started Wednesday morning and was being continued that Thursday morning.

"I mean, I really have a lot of interest in being a physicist, but then I'm not sure if I'd rather not be some kind of technical writer," he was saying this morning.

"Where do you see yourself being more happy?" Andy asked.

"I'm not sure, because I really enjoy physics and math, but then there's something about being a technical writer that just intrigues me."

"Being a technical writer intrigues you?"

"Well, yeah," Brian said as if it should intrigue everyone.

"Okay," Andy laughed.

"Well what do you wanna do?"

"I don't know. I mean, all I've ever really known is competing…I guess I would be a coach or something."

"Is that what you're really interested in though?" Claire asked, joining the conversation for the first time today.

"I'm…not sure," Andy replied slowly. What was he interested in? Now that he thought about it, he had never really given it much of his own thought before. He had always just gone on the path of what he knew he was skilled at: sports.

What WAS Andy really interested in?

* * *

Allison was enjoying having Andy live with him so far. They slept together (without having sex), ate together, talked together…it was nice. She had company for a change while her zombie parents went to work and came home and did nothing. They went to school together and left together afterwards. It was quite enjoyable.

The bell rang telling the students they had five minutes to get to their first class, and she said bye to Andy, Claire, and Brian before going to her government class. She took her seat and looked at the empty one that John should be occupying. Wednesday had been filled with buzzing all over the school about the car accident in the parking lot, but today it was now old news. She just wished he was there to throw wads of paper at her.

Before the class even started she took out some paper and started sketching a volcano. Why a volcano, she was not sure, but it was just what she felt like drawing. She was going to sketch it so that it showed the extreme calmness before it erupted.

* * *

Brian entered his classroom for advanced physics and saw that Larry Lester was still not there. He frowned, wondering if he was okay. Larry was one of the few people before the Breakfast Club that Brian could almost call a friend.

His teacher entered the room, looking grim and flustered. He went up to his desk, sweaty and pale, and looked anxiously up at the speaker box where the announcements came out of. Once the final bell rang, Principal Vernon came on, which was unusual because the announcements usually began with one of the student council kids asking everyone to stand for the pledge.

"Good morning, everyone," Principal Vernon said quite soberly. "There has been a terrible incident within our school that you must all know about." He took a deep breath over the speaker and everyone in Brian's classroom was silent. "It is with my deepest regret to have to tell you that a student in our school named Larry Lester committed suicide last night."

Brian's stomach lurched. What?

"Larry was a senior at our school that was a victim of bullying. We as staff were not aware of this until it was too late, but we hope that those students who participate in any kind of bullying take a closer look at the effects it can have on people. I'd like to have a moment of silence for Larry at this time."

The whole class remained silent. Brian could not believe this. Larry was dead? He killed himself? It seemed too unreal, especially as six days ago Brian had intended on doing the same thing to himself.

After a moment, Vernon came back on the speaker. "Anyone who was friends with Larry or knew him or just needs to talk to someone, there will be counselors in the library all day today. Just tell your teacher you need to go and they will all oblige. If you feel you cannot be in school today due to grief, please report to the office and your parents will be called to pick you up. I am sorry for this terrible loss and I hope we will not suffer one again."

He ended his announcements at that, and the class stayed silent for another few minutes. It was a strange concept to accept, that a student in their school had killed themselves. Brian himself had a hard time dealing with it. Larry had killed himself because he was bullied too much. The last day he had been at school was Friday, the day that Andy had jumped him.

Poor Andy, Brian thought. What was he going to think? What was he going to do? Brian knew how horrible Andy felt about the incident and knew that he had done it because of the pressure from his father, not that it was an excuse, but Brian knew the cruel act had not been done out of cruelty, if that made any sense.

Then Brian started thinking about what if he had killed himself that Friday? What if he had gone through with it? It would be him on the announcements they talked about. Would they know the reason it had happened? Probably not. If Brian had killed himself on Friday though, maybe Larry would not have. Maybe he would not have since someone else had just done it. It would be him sitting in his desk hearing about Brian's death.

It suddenly made Brian very glad that he had not killed himself. Right now, however, he just wondered what Andy was going through.

* * *

Andy sat there shaking in his desk. Those in his classroom that knew about how he had taped Larry's buns together on Friday kept casting furtive glances at him. He could not believe this…someone was dead, and it was his fault.

He slowly stood up from his seat, his legs feeling like Jell-O. "Mrs. Sabley?" he said in an unsteady voice to his teacher. "I need to go."

Mrs. Sabley nodded and jerked her head at the door saying it was okay. He ran from the room and sat down against the wall as soon as he was in the hallway. He needed to compose himself. How could this happen? Larry was dead. Larry was dead because of him. He had humiliated him so much that it had driven him to end his life.

Andy started crying as he sat in the hallway. He did not care if anyone saw him. In fact, he wished an angry mob would find him, tie him up, and drag him somewhere to be stoned to death. To be humiliated to death as Larry had been. That would be the least he deserved.

And he had done it just to earn a nod of approval from his father. He had done it to impress his stubborn, jackass father. It was such a stupid reason, such a stupid, pathetic reason.

He was crying and he could not stop. He could not move. He did not know what to do with himself. He had just started trying to be a better person. He wanted to be more friendly, more open to other people, even if they were different. He wanted to be the one that started standing up to the bullies.

Andy hated himself right then. He wanted to beat himself up, humiliate himself, suffer worse than Larry had. He wanted to be punished. He would do anything to make up for this, anything.

Could he ever?

He was still slumped against the wall when a gentle hand started pulling his arms upwards. Without even looking up to see who it was, he obeyed the touch without thinking about it. He was pulled to his feet and found himself face-to-face with Allison, who was looking at him with tears in her eyes.

"Come on," she said quietly. "I don't think this is where you want to be."

Right now he did not care. He let her lead him through the school and outside. He did not care about getting in trouble. He just needed to be away from here. He needed to be with Allison. She would help him.

He felt a surge of anger at himself as he thought that he did not deserve to be helped.

"No, I shouldn't leave," he said.

"I'm pretty sure you should," Allison answered quietly. "A lot of people know about how you jumped him."

"Exactly," Andy replied. "It's my fault and I need to take responsibility," he told her, his voice shaking a lot.

"Being here isn't going to do you any good. You need to go."

"No, I have to stay."

"People might go after you!" Allison said angrily.

"Good! They should! And it's my responsibility to tell them that it was my fault their friend or classmate or brother or cousin or whatever else he was to people that he is dead!"

"Andy, I know you feel bad but this isn't going to help. I'm really worried that you'll get hurt!"

"And if I do, I deserve it! I'll go through all the pain I have to if it means making up for what I did!" Andy's voice broke. He could not take this. He could not. "I've gotta go back in."

"And what are you going to do?" Allison asked quietly.

"I'll go to the library where the kids that are the most upset will probably be, and I'm going to tell them it was my fault that Larry is dead and I'm going to give them the best apology I can, whether they accept it or not."

He was still crying, still shaking. He was so angry with himself and upset and guilty. He did not think he could ever forgive himself. How could anyone else?

"Okay," Allison nodded. She went back inside with him and they both entered the library, where many sad students were sitting together along with the guidance counselors. Some of the students were crying, some were just staring quietly into space, looking lost or angry. Andy did not know what to say. He was responsible for all of this.

As he and Allison slowly approached them, the grieving students looked up, and many of them glared.

"What are you doing here?" one lanky boy with glasses and shrunken clothes asked menacingly.

"Jordan, everyone in this school has a right to be here," one of the guidance counselors, Mrs. Pikeling said calmly.

"HE doesn't!" Jordan spat. "It's HIS fault that Larry's dead!" Jordan was pointing a shaking finger furiously at Andy, who just stood there, feeling so ashamed.

"All right, let's talk about this," Mrs. Pikeling suggested. "Andy, how about you have a seat, and Jordan, you can civilly discuss with him how you feel."

"I don't want to be civil with him! I want him to have some kind of idea, some kind of fucking inkling of how the rest of us are feeling!"

"Jordan, let him talk," a familiar voice said. Andy did not see Brian sitting amongst the crowd. He stood up. "Guys, I had detention with Andy on Saturday, and I heard what was probably the most genuinely remorseful confession I have ever heard. Do you really think he doesn't feel bad at all?"

"Yeah, now he does that the kid he picked on is dead," a chubby girl with a lot of zits said fiercely. "He would never have cared if Larry hadn't…" she trailed off and tears started burning her eyes. She sat down.

"That's not true," Brian told them all, voice quivering but defiant. "I heard how sorry Andy was before this happened! It was really bothering him a lot, and if you'd been there, you would have realized just how shitty he feels, and you guys are probably making him feel even shittier!"

"Thanks, Brian," Andy said softly, "but I think it'll be better if they hear this from me." All of the students there watched him, waiting to hear what he had to say that was supposed to make them feel better. Andy swallowed. "On Friday, in the locker room, Larry was next to me, and I noticed his physique, and all that I could think about at that moment was my father's talks about weakness. See, I've always been very…very skilled athletically, and my father used to be a big football player in high school. He-he's always wanted me to be just like him, and-"

"That's very touching," the boy named Jordan interrupted sardonically. "No offense, but we really aren't interested in your sob stories when the kid you tortured killed himself because of you."

"Let him finish!" Allison snapped.

"Settle down, everyone," Mrs. Pikeling said. "Please, Jordan, let him finish. It might help you gain some understanding."

Jordan nodded grudgingly and Andy went on.

"My dad…he's always pushed me to be a-a winner. To be better than those around me, to set an example for those that are weaker. When…when I saw Larry, that as all I could think about, and I just started-started jumping on him because I thought it would make my dad happy. I thought my dad would finally-finally give me some approval for teaching someone weaker to toughen up. I did it…I did it to make my dad happy. But I started thinking about it afterwards and I thought about Larry's dad, and Larry telling him what happened. I would be making my own dad proud, but I probably made Larry's dad ashamed, and-and probably Larry ashamed. How horrible to do someone, you know?" At this, Andy glared as more tears fell from his eyes. The glare was not directed at anyone around him, but to himself. "How horrible, to make someone feel so low, to make someone feel so incompetent. He must have been so humiliated." Andy's voice staggered for a moment and he had to take another breath and keep going. Everyone was dead silent. "I can't even imagine how humiliated he must have felt. And my dad…my dad was proud of me for this." He kicked a nearby unoccupied chair leg. He was so angry right now, at himself and at his father. "He was PROUD because he said I taught Larry a lesson, that I showed Larry survival of the fittest and that hopefully now Larry would learn to toughen up. Larry didn't need to toughen up though. He just needed confidence. The poor kid probably just needed people to be happy with him for the way he was, to just be nice to him for god sakes! And then I came around and humiliated him and probably made him feel like SHIT, just to impress my stupid father! It was the most stupid, selfish, ignorant thing to do, and I don't know how to apologize to any of you, or how to make up for the fact that your friend is d-dead because of me!" He was crying hard now and he couldn't stop the guilt as it flowed like a stream from his eyes. "I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I want you all to know that I-I am so sorry. I'm sorry I did this to you, and I'm sorry I did this to Larry. I truly mean it. I need you to know that I mean everything I'm saying, whether you forgive me or not is your choice, but please just realize that I am very genuinely sorry!" He was sobbing uncontrollably now and he felt arms wrapping themselves around him in a hug as his face was pressed into a soft shoulder. He knew it was probably Allison, but he still did not feel he deserved a hug, even from her. He held her tight, however, because he needed to show her he really cared.

"Andy," a familiar voice said, quavering from the strain. Allison let go of him and he looked around to see Jordan looking at him, tears going down his own cheeks too. "I-I forgive you," he sobbed.

Andy's breath was coming in and out uncontrollably. He did not know what to do or what to say. He tried to regain his composure for a moment and nodded, saying, "Thank you. Thank you so much." Jordan nodded too, and put his face in his hand as he choked on more sobs.

Andy looked at the others. Many sat there with their faces in their hands or staring down at the table, sobbing. Brian was looking at Andy with tears in his eyes and gave him a grim smile of reassurance.

The next few days, weeks, months-however long-were going to be hard, Andy knew. But right now he felt that it might be possible to handle them, and to come out of all of this and be okay. He had friends. He had the Breakfast Club.

* * *

Author's note: Thank you all for the reviews. I really appreciate the feedback. I hope you continue to like this story. I'm going to try to get at least one more chapter in before I leave for college on September 5th. Either way, I'll continue to try to keep writing at college, just realize I might be busy and may not be able to post chapters very quickly. Thanks, and happy reading. :)


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